


Strange Case of Dr Swan and Ms Hyde

by Lex_Noctis



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Drama, F/F, Historical References, Multiple Personalities, Romance, Supernatural - Freeform, Swan Queen Week Winter 2016
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 12:43:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5744266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lex_Noctis/pseuds/Lex_Noctis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story of how one misstep had changed everything in Regina Mill's life. Of how she had lost her love to the darkness, had to give her up and then inexplicably was reunited again. Story of how Doctor Emma Swan became Allison Hyde. (Swan Queen, Victorian Supernatural AU, for SQ Week)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lust

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Swen! This is the first chapter of my submission for the Swan Queen Week. Just to make something clear from the start:  
> 1) This is a rather explicit story featuring sex, violence, and quite a bit of gore later on. Each chapter will have a warning for specifics.  
> 2) I can not promise that all chapters will follow the same length and I only have five more chapters planned so it's not going to be entirely compliant with the 7 Sins theme.  
> And 3) This story takes place in a fictional AU to our own. Therefore some historical aspects will not be accurate by design. One such being – the Victorian England setting is wildly different to accommodate the story I want to tell, especially so where equality of genders within social classes is concerned. Such as women being allowed to pursue higher education and choose whatever profession they wanted granted they had the money and social status for it. And another reason being that I could not afford to do all the properly detailed research time-wise. Hopefully, it will not put you off.  
> Enjoy the read!

_No. 86B, Baker Street, Marylebone, London.  
_ _17th of August, 1866._

The silence that greeted her once Regina stepped out of her study having read the telegram she had received had been her first clue. Difference in lighting – her second and a new, barely there scent on the air – third. Regina hadn't been gone for more that half an hour, or precisely 27 minutes, and the subtle changes piqued her curiosity. She moved down the corridor back towards the dining room picking up on more subtle tells that something was amiss. Regina wasn’t trying to pry, she was quite aware of her uncanny ability to ruin a perfectly romantic evening by dissecting every little detail. However, her analytical mind, instincts honed to perfection to work in conjunction with her deductive method were beyond her control. Willing or not, she was bound to notice, her eyes were bound to see things that others would overlook. Regina was too much of a detective, too much of a scientist, fascinated by all and everything to be able to just switch that part of her off on command. No matter how much she, or someone else, wished for some times.

Though, where she was skilled enough, despite occasional gripes with the unnecessary complexities of it, was tact. Regina moved forward, a small smile forming on her lips. As she had already concluded their dining room had been abandoned. She surveyed the table from her spot at the archway – the dishes had been cleaned away, tablecloth straightened out enough to avoid any wrinkles even for her eyes. Only the candles still burned softly. Under the two silver candle holders in the middle she saw a dark red rose, the stem contrasting against the white cloth. Moving closer Regina noticed a card left upright next to the flower. She picked both items up. This was the scent she noticed before.

Regina lowered her face to the rose inhaling its scent. Her smile grew when she opened the card and read the message waiting for her. The prim and proper handwriting, those sharp lines and strict curves, and not a drop of ink splattered on the paper. She knew it well, could tell a lot about the owner of that handwriting, regardless of the fact that she knew exactly whose it was. It was a hand of a surgeon that left those words. A steady hand. A hand of a person sure of their place and motivations. The little stiffness of some letters was telling of high discipline, Regina would surmise a military background. But there was also a hidden playfulness peaking from between the words, only reinforced by what the note entailed.

“ _Miss Mills, on this lovely occasion Doctor Swan would like to invite you upstairs to enjoy a glass of wine and dessert in culmination of a wonderful evening.”_

Beneath the note there was another sentence written in a smaller type.

“ _Follow the roses.”_

Frowning slightly Regina turned towards the staircase and immediately her expression spread into a wide smile. Emma had to have prepared this for some time. There was a rose carefully placed at the small table over at the archway leading out of the room. Regina moved over to it picking up the flower and naturally bringing it to her face. She inhaled the scent, her keen mind picking up on the rosy blush tinting her cheekbones. Another rose awaited her on the first stair. And than another and another.

The trail continued up the staircase and down the hall towards the closed doors to the bedroom. Regina caught herself grinning and carefully calmed her features before clasping the handle and opening the door.

The first detail that sprung at her were the candles. Emma had placed candles on every available surface. And though at any other time Regina would have reprimanded her on creating such a fire hazard, this time she just couldn’t find it in herself to be mad. In addition to the candles the vanity and smaller tables were housing vases filled with more red roses. It was all very creative and appreciated, especially so after the grueling case they had closed not two days ago. Regina’s mind automatically shifted back to the list of new cases she was in the process of evaluating when a subtle movement caught her eyes and her mind was immediately clear of all other thoughts. Her attention had been snatched by the source so completely like only one person could, leaving her thoroughly captivated.

Emma was laying on the bed, elbows supporting her reclined pose. Her jacket was gone, no doubt left on the drawing-room floor. She had shed the skirt and petticoats, the blue blouse she worn had been left hanging on the back of the vanity’s chair. Her bare feet lay in full display on the silk sheets since she had rid herself of both shoes and socks. All Emma wore were her simple white linen drawers, though even the free cut and considerable length couldn’t hide the muscled lines of her legs; just as simple a chemise left her arms bare to the same effect. On top of it Emma still had her corset. The white and tan material clung to her figure as it supposed to, tied to the limit, yet the two undone buttons at the top had only reinforced the allure of the state of undress Emma was in. As if to finish it off she had also removed some of the fastenings from her hair making several long curly locks fall out of the pulled up braided creation to frame her face. Another set of freed tresses reached down to her shoulders draping over the exposed curve where the neck met her shoulder.

Regina stared. And stared. Until the tightness in her clutched at the waist fist reminded her to exhale. Emma looked breathtaking, which judging by the brilliant smile and the coy downcast of her long lashes she knew well enough herself. Regina swallowed the sudden lump in her throat with greater than she anticipated. It had always fascinated her how Emma Swan could throw her off-balance. Ever since their first meeting, the first few weeks brought together by inconspicuous factors to share the same roof, since then Doctor Swan puzzled and infuriated Regina to no end. Usually cold and detached, entirely consumed by her deductive method and scientific work Regina found herself always on her toes with Emma. She was a strange, unsettling enigma. Simple and easy one day and surprising the next.

They had played this cat and mouse game for a long while. The lingering fascination had grown into attraction, it had remained there below the surface as they became colleagues, then friends. But after a while Regina gave up. She gave up and fallen head first into this incredible feeling, which if she was now sure was inevitable. Some chemical reactions are a part of the natural process.

She stepped through the closing after her doors, lowered the rose in her hands into an already prepared vase. Setting the red buds in a nice arrangement Regina inhaled their scent and glanced up at the temptress on the bed, who no doubt was waiting for her to react.

“Hmm, Doctor Swan, I was under the impression you were expecting company.”

Emma moved her shoulder as her lips pursed tighter together in an attempt to hold her laughter. “That is correct, Doctor Mills. I’m waiting on a wonderful person who, perhaps, could help me unlace this so unfortunately tight corset.”

“I was promised a glass of wine,” said Regina in as stern a voice as she could muster, even though the corners of her lips were twitching upwards. “And desert if memory serves me right.”

“Well,” Emma drawled getting up from the bed and taking slow steps forward, “The wine needs to breathe a bit and desert,” she trailed an index finger up the row of buttons on the front of her corset, “needs unwrapping.”

Regina could not hold a burst of melodic laughter anymore. She closed the distance between them throwing her arms in a loose circle around the blonde’s neck. Emma’s hands immediately found purchase on her hips. Regina looked right into those magnificent eyes, bright green in the light of the candles, grinning with all her might. Her lover’s smile rivaled her own. She tilted her head and placed a slow, gentle kiss on Emma’s lips. Emma melted into the kiss that went on an on, pulling Regina closer by the hips until they were not an inch apart. Regina’s hands traveled along Emma’s shoulders, over her collarbones tickling the open skin. She moved her fingers over the front of Emma’s corset, then sneaked her way around the blonde’s body and under her arms. Their unhurried kissing – all lips and hot breaths and closed eyes – continued as Regina’s skilled fingers found the tight lacing on Emma’s back and started working on it, one pull of the laces at a time.

As if coming to some realization Regina broke the kiss and rested her forehead against Emma’s a strained giggle coming out of her mouth. She felt a palm coming to rest on the side of her face and a thumb gently grazing her cheekbone. Regina opened her eyes to meet the sparkling emeralds of Emma’s. The unspoken question lingered between them until Regina let out a soft laugh.

“I commend you on proper use of time, my dear. I suppose it was you who send the telegram, I should have seen it sooner, bravo. However, you do know it will take half an hour for us to undress _me_ as well, don’t you _Em-ma_?”

The barely covered body under her hands shivered in response to Regina's annunciation of her name. Emma let out a deep breath, she grinned wider lowering her face again to nuzzle Regina’s forehead. “I am a patient woman, Regina. I hadbeen taught the virtues of good discipline.”

It had taken them about forty minutes to discard every article of clothing, every shred of fabric until they had not a stitch on either of them. Another twenty minutes had been spent on the loveseat emptying a bottle of wine and feeding each other crumbling slices of halva and portioned peaches. The slight breeze from the opened window made the otherwise hot summer night, rare as it was for London's fame, that much more pleasant. Yet as soon as the buzz settled in their bodies, and their hands had been washed in the basin left for that reason by the small table with the sweets, they had fallen into bed.

Regina rolled them both over the silk white sheets enjoying the contrast of slightly cooler fabric compared to the warmth radiating from Emma’s body. She had pressed her front tight to Emma as their lips collided again and again. Hands were roaming and legs got tangled in a wonderful mess of heated skin. Regina broke the kiss peppering smaller nips and kisses along Emma's jaw line. The blonde underneath was letting out shallow breaths, her head thrown back on the sheets and long golden curls strewn around her head like a halo. Regina moved her lips lower right over Emma's throat enjoying the sensation; she could feel the air being sucked in and exhaled, the thundering beat of her pulse, the little shivers that covered her skin as Regina moved lower. Their nude fronts slid against one another, breasts pressed together and hardened nipples grazing the pliant flesh. The movement combined with Regina’s mouth closing around her pulse point pulled the first loud moan out of Emma.

The smile formed on Regina's lips as they were pressed to the hollow of Emma's throat. So much for that discipline, she thought, though that comment flew right out of her mind as Emma raked her nails hard along her spine. Hard enough to entice, to cause the familiar heavy pull in the lower reaches of Regina’s abdomen, but not enough to break skin. Emma was always careful, she never left hickeys or bites, her attention to Regina’s olive toned skin could only be described as worshipful. Which was exactly the opposite of what Regina did herself. She sucked on that sweet spot where Emma's neck connected to her shoulder until the drawn to the surface blood colored that pristine skin purplish. Regina let go and lapped at the fresh bruise, the mark promising to stay for a while. Emma will just have to wear a scarf, not that she minded judging by how she withered and panted.

She wasted no more time in straddling Emma's waist, her mouth seeking out its counterpart. Emma answered the kiss with the same passion, her tongue sliding out to meet Regina’s. Suddenly she rose up pulling Regina firmer in her lap and wrapping her arms around her waist. On instinct Regina weaved her fingers into the blonde tresses not wanting to separate for a second. Her hips buckled as she came into contact with Emma's taut stomach exactly where she needed friction most. Emma moaned into her mouth, she no doubt could feel the abundant wetness resulting from masterfully enticed arousal. They had played this game many times before. Keeping each other just there, wanting, waiting. With glances, subtle movements, a word, a gesture, a kiss, the intoxicating long battle to undress each other until all the barriers were removed and they could dive head first into the storm of uncontrollable passion. Their lust for each other had not waned with the years, nor did their appetite. That carefully constructed waiting game meant a whole night of making love. Again and again and again.

Regina caught Emma's hands as they went to cup her jaw. She clasped her palms threading her fingers through the long pale ones and applied pressure on Emma. She wanted the blonde to fall back, to get on top and ravish her until she couldn't scream her name anymore.

But Emma didn't budge. She ended their kiss with a wet pop and looked up. Their breaths intermingled and lips didn't want to stray too far. Regina opened her eyes to see the blown,drowned in arousal green ones staring at her. The raw want pouring out of them, written all over Emma's face made her release a shaky gasp. That look was doing wicked things to her insides, causing her stomach to twist and heart perform a drum beat against her ribs.

“You were the first on top last night, Regina,” rasped Emma, her breathing strained, “now it's my turn.”

And Emma flipped them on the bed landing Regina on her back. She moaned and thrown her head back as Emma immediately trailed a string of open mouthed kisses from her neck down to her chest. Their hands were still clasped and Regina tightened her fingers. Her legs wrapped around Emma's waist of their own accord. It was her turn to moan and hiss and wither as Emma licked a trail between her breasts and then captured one hardened peak between her lips. She closed her eyes letting the blonde lavish attention on her breasts. Regina felt lighter, she let go of Emma's hands, knowing she would want to use them, and fisted them in the sheets. She couldn't even begin to miss that feeling of connection as Emma's talented hands went to knead and caress her breasts. Emma pinched and pulled on the nipple that wasn't in her mouth, the one that wasn't being sucked on and nipped with just the edge of her Emma’s wonderful teeth. Regina moaned louder and arched into the touch, her hips buckled searching for Emma, for friction she needed.

“Emma…” the plea floated off her lips lost amongst the moans and gasps.

The kisses and caresses moved lower, yet Emma was taking her time intent on relearning every inch of Regina’s skin she could get her hands and mouth on. She ran her fingers down her sides, then kneading the flesh of her hips and thighs, nipped gently along her ribs, swirled the tip of her tongue around Regina’s belly button, until finally Emma pushed her legs further apart and settled between them. Unlike many other women Regina was clean shaven leaving only a wisp of hair right above her mound. It was a combination of her approach to hygiene and personal preference, plus Emma seemed to enjoy both the sight and feel of her immensely.

At the first broad swipe of tongue Regina let out a long staggering breath, her mouth forming a perfect ‘o'. But then Emma dived right in lapping at her folds, gathering as much wetness as she could, sucking and nipping at the swollen lips, and Regina lost most of coherent thoughts she had left. She was spiraling towards her first orgasm of the night embarrassingly fast. And Emma wasn't slowing down. She swirled her tongue, ran the flat of it all along her folds, teased the tight ring at her entrance, even dipped inside for a few shallow, gentle thrusts.

The litany of “Yes!”, “Emma!” and “God, right there!” was interlaced with breathy moans and choked breaths.

One of Regina’s hands found its way down to tangle on the golden locks while the other was fisted in the sheets above her head so tight her knuckles went white. The pulling in her abdomen reached almost painful levels and Emma had only given her clit a few slow, teasing licks. Regina wanted more, she couldn't let Emma prolong this exquisite torture on and on, more so since she knew that Emma would. She relished Regina’s responsiveness too much.

Regina pulled on the golden tresses, not too much, but enough to drag Emma's mouth to where she needed her. The needy push of her hips and meaningful scratching of nails on her skull were clear enough for her lover to understand that Regina was not about to wait any longer. Emma let out a sound against the parts of her that were slick and swollen, a noise that sounded suspiciously like muffled sniggering. Yet before Regina could reprimand her too smug for her own good lover, Emma latched onto her clit and sucked the bundle into her mouth. Regina arched off the bed, her arm coming behind her prop her up. Regina’s legs clamped together and only Emma’s timed help got one of the trembling thighs up over her shoulder while she held on to the other one. Emma sucked and flicked her tongue over Regina’s clit as she buckled into that talented mouth. Regina dropped her hand to the back of Emma’s head pulling her closer, her inner walls quivered and became rigid with the first quakes of her orgasm. Regina let out a silent scream, her eyes shut tight, arms shaking… and fell back into bed.

She kept rocking against Emma’s face, her tongue and mouth following the movements, prolonging the pleasure. Regina gasped finding her voice again, light tremors skidded along her thighs and calves, flexed the muscles of her stomach. She eased her grip on the mane of blonde curls, more caressing than holding now. Regina let Emma lap up all the wetness she wanted, too caught in the afterglow of her release to care. Emma was delicate knowing not to go near her clit right after and she wasn’t all that sensitive yet, not after one orgasm. Which judging by the way their night began was going to increase in number exponentially.

Having gotten enough Emma left her folds with one last broad stroke of her tongue and crawled up her relaxed body, kissing and nipping here and there with complete disregard for the thin layer of perspiration that had covered the olive toned skin. She slid up between her legs and settled down atop of her in the mirror image of the pose they were in before. Feeling the curtain of long tresses shower her face and the affable bite at the corner of her jaw, Regina opened her eyes. She was greeted with the grinning look of utter satisfaction, tainted with just a bit too much smugness to her liking. Though, Regina couldn’t dismiss the fact that she found that look more endearing than annoying, still she wasn’t going to let the way Emma behaved slide. She opened her mouth, the beginning of a sentence dancing on the tip of her tongue, when Emma covered her lips with her own and all the sentences were swiped clean off by her lover's tongue. Regina moaned into the kiss tasting her own arousal off of Emma. It was intoxicating, entirely too delectable an experience.

They separated only when two sets of lungs had prickled in their need for oxygen and painted, their chests rising and falling in unison and foreheads touching.

“Dear,” Regina swallowed, “I’ll have to get back at you for teasing me like that,” she breathed out, lips twitching in a crooked grin, “but you knew that beforehand, didn’t you?”

Emma released a breathy giggle and poked her nose with the tip of her own. “I can’t help it. It’s too rewarding to get you worked up and then… mmm… They way your face changes, they way your whole body glows in the throes of ecstasy, it’s absolutely magnificent. You’re a work of art when you come.”

“Oh, so I am not a work of art at any other time, then?” Regina raised one perfectly sculpted brow.

“You are. It’s different though. Like the mountains and the waterfalls in India were impressive, but come to see them on a summer morning and the sun would paint them in all the colors of the spectrum. You are like that. Every time I find a new way to please you, you show me a different side. And I can’t get enough of how beautiful you are.”

“Since when did you become such a romantic poet, Doctor?” smiled Regina moving Emma’s long hair out of the way and tucking the strands behind her ears.

“Love made stranger things happen.” shrugged she giving Regina a ten megawatt smile.

They stared into each others eyes until Regina grasped at Emma’s arms and brought them behind her back. Emma’s eyes widened and Regina let her wicked smirk grow. She cocked her head to the side and whispered, “My turn. Remember, dear, what follows is all your fault.”

Regina rolled them and pushed Emma higher on the bed letting her fall down in a splash of golden tresses. Emma yelped and then laughed. Her laughter continued as Regina descended upon her body, the energy drained by her release returning to her ten fold. That melodic, happy laughter filled her ears up till it transformed into the familiar litany of moans and sobs and pleas. Until all Emma could utter was her name.

They had loved each other for hours. Till most candles had burned out and their bodies became too tired and sore to continue. Regina collapsed into the bed laying down on her belly and drawing the pillow under her cheek. Her right hand sneaked underneath it while the other was laid freely to her side. She could feel Emma’s body lowering down at her side, the careful hands covering her lower half with a sheet. Emma pulled the silk material up to the small of her back and left it there just as Regina liked.

“Regina,” murmured Emma trailing a finger along the heated skin of her back.

“Hmm?” was the only answer she could give her, too relaxed in the warmth and lazy afterglow of sore muscles and still lingering buzz from the wine.

“I’m curious, why are you letting Arthur write his stories based on our practice?”

Regina smiled into the pillow. “I had only let him in on a few of our old cases, nothing major. And certainly nothing of our business with the supernatural or occult worlds. Neither will he be privy to our scientific work. Though,” she felt her smile grow, “I can surmise that is not what you were truly asking, dear.”

She heard Emma grumble under her breath. The fingers at her shoulder were replaced by a playful nip of Emma’s teeth – revenge for using deductive skills on her. Emma perched her chin atop of the shoulder and continued her thought, “I simply do not understand why do his fictional characters have to be men? Doctor Watson. I can just picture mustache and pathological attachment to the proper etiquette. What a preposterous image of me! And what kind of name is ‘Sherlock’ anyway? They have barely anything in common with us.”

“And that is the point. Do you suppose I would have given my blessing if those stories could lead back to our work?”

Regina almost purred when Emma leaned closer still splaying her front over Regina’s back. Her melodic laughter sounded close to her ear and Regina could feel her heart flutter at the sound.

“That was very clever, Ms Mills,” whispered Emma into her ear. She placed a careful kiss just behind the shell, the heat of her body lolling Regina into the pleasant foggy state before sleep.

It was all she wanted at the moment. To turn on her side, bring Emma’s arms around her middle and drift off. A perfect end to one perfect day. The day they had deserved after closing that case. She felt so at ease, safe and loved. Happy. So sharper was the shock of what Emma said next. The tone of her voice changed. Instead of the warm, loving if a bit teasing pur Emma let out a hiss. Mocking, harsh. Regina jerked as if doused in a bucket of icy water. The coldness of this voice chilled her to the bones.

“If you’re so clever, Detective, why haven’t you found me yet? Why haven’t you stopped me?”

The warmth of the body next to her was gone. The lips next to her ear disappeared. Even the mane of free golden locks that was tickling her shoulders went away. Regina lifted up on her arms ready to turn, the sticky ball of fear gathering up low in her abdomen. She turned her head back and, even though she somehow knew what she was going to see, the sight knocked the air out of her chest.

Emma was there. And wasn’t. This wasn’t _her_ Emma Swan. This was someone else. Her whole body was tightly draped in leather, though Regina only reflectively noticed it. Her gaze was magnetically drawn to her face. Pale, glinting, yet filled with an almost manic glow of unspent energy her skin had changed. Instead of pale pink her lips had been painted a deep shade of red. Dark brown mane of hair with strands that were an even darker tone of inky black cascaded around her face and down her shoulders, which had only made the sparse golden hairs, like the aging white, but so very different, this much wilder. But the most striking were her eyes. The blue-green sparkling irises were gone along with that curious and loving expression Regina found irresistible. The woman looking at her was cold, wild and the unnatural golden color of her eyes, the hawk-like expression of ferocious superiority was stifling, pressing.

“Hyde…” breathed out Regina frozen in place. She could feel strength draining from her extremities.

“Why haven’t you found me yet, Regina Mills? I have killed again. You’re supposed to be the greatest detective who ever lived. Or are you?” Regina just swallowed, the head-spinning turn of events hard even for her to get used to. The taunting alter-ego gave her a salacious leer, slithering closer. “You know, I could just replace her. Right now.”

And she liked over Regina’s opened in horror lips.

“ _NO!”_

The shout escaped her mouth as Regina bolted upright. She blinked bringing her hands up to clear the hair out of her face and swiping the cold sweat off her forehead in the process.

The bedroom around her was cold and drown in twilight of the pre morning hour. The light bluish hue of the light reaching from the outside the window illuminated the floor a bit. No a single red rose was in sight. No burning candles. Instead of the light summer breeze, Regina shivered at the breath of winter. There was a half-empty crystal decanter of cider and the empty glass next to it. Regina was alone in her bed. The sheets and duvet rumpled. She exhaled feeling how the linen nightdress clung to her ribs. Her skin was covered in cold sweat and the warm pooling at the base of her thighs was only making it all worse. Regina was aroused, shocked, scared and alone.

Stifling a sob she wrapped her arms around her middle and dropped back into bed, her face burrowed in the pillow.

On the vanity’s table – severely damaged by splashes from the alcohol and ringed with the heavy glass still standing on top of it – was yesterday’s newspaper. The date atop the page read 1of November 1888. The headline stood out on the page in big bold letters.

‘ _TWO MORE BODIES FOUND IN THE CITY OF LONDON. THE RIPPER STRIKES AGAIN.’_

 

 


	2. Hunger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So this chapter had gotten away from me. It combines Gluttony and Greed into one theme. And it's pretty much twice as long as the previous one. Not sure how it happened, but it just grew exponentially as I wrote it. Hope you will like it anyway. 
> 
> Two warnings: 1) this chapter contains references to gory and brutal murders, but nothing overly explicit. 2) this is still a SQ story, but features a sex scene without Regina. SQ sexy times will likely make a reappearance later on. Also, I'm really curious if anyone will be able to see the twist in this chapter coming. Let me know!

_Dorset Street, Spitalfields_ , _London.  
_ _8th of November, 1888._

Going down the street in the twilight shadows the dark haired woman chuckled to herself at the name of it. Dorset Street. Though this dark and ruined by the slumlords run-downs looked nothing alike the clean and proper street up in Marylebone, the irony wasn’t lost on her. It was one of the traits that had attracted her to Whitechapel as a potential hunting ground. Three successes and but one failure were proof enough. And she hadn't been the only one intrigued by the same mindset. The whole district been plagued by crime. The usual kind for a city this big, and the kind that only afforded careful whisperings away from the curious eyes. The rumors of things going bump in the night were not just rumours here, in the filled to the brim with poverty and misery slums, as opposed to those brightly shining streets of upper London.

After reaching a great spot, Allison Hyde remained there, at the corner. She lurked in the shadows waiting, stalking, measuring up the late visitors. The public house at the corner of Dorset and Commercial Street was a lovely target, not to mention the alley way back towards the Miller’s Court right behind her. The perfect ground for her work. She scanned the thin crowd searching for something. She couldn't say what exactly, being driven by instinct, though her sharp mind had already cataloged all the ingredients the serum was missing. The final version, perfected solution, one dose of which would finalize her transformation.

Oh, she wanted nothing more than to get to the third stage. It was calling for her! Perfection of form, purity of essence, a new step in evolution! Pinnacle of human ingenuity designed to replace everything wrong about _homo_ _sapiens_. All the weakness and struggle. The chance to rise above them all and bring forth a golden age! _Her_ vision, _her_ strength, _her world!_

The fact that some will have to be sacrificed in the name of her great work wasn't bothering her in the slightest. Frankly, she did derive pleasure, almost maniacal joy in the intricacies of the process, getting closer to the goal, but not in hurting those who had been chosen. It was just like another science experiment, though this one was going to change the world’s natural order unlike any before. Hyde looked at the people calculating, deciding, willing for the one final piece of the puzzle to reveal itself. She breathed in the stiff air ignoring all the revolting smells of the slums. The scents of people was what she was after. Very special people, those who, perhaps, didn’t know themselves how special they were.

The voice in her head didn't phase her. She had already gotten used to it, knew how to make it stop when needed. Sometimes her alter was even an interesting, engaging company. Though right now she was more about that self righteous preaching than anything useful.

“ _You can not be doing this! Not like this! Those are innocent people!”_

“No one's innocent here,” muttered Hyde under her breath. At the moment, she was getting really aggravated with that disembodied voice of her alter-ego.

The voice stumbled. Even Emma Swan with all her perceived virtues, all that justice, honor and charity, even she could not deny that fact. No a single person in Whitechapel was without fault. Most were driven to it by the city around them, some relished in their darkness, but no one remained untouched. And, really, all that virtuous talk could not stand against the cold facts of science, the unavoidable truth of mathematics. This way was simply better than any other alternative. To sacrifice a few for the betterment of many.

As if offended by that thought that ephemeral voice huffed out, _“You’re not going to share the serum, Allison, do not pretend that you will.”_

“Of course not,” muttered Hyde in a voice so devoid of sound and distinct lip-movement she might as well not talked at all. However, despite all those ridiculous psychological studies telling her this meant she was insane, Allison liked talking to herself. Well, in her case there actually was another _‘self’_ to talk to. “I’m going to take a few and leave the rest alone. Surely you approve, Swan. Better than slaughtering the lot of them en masse. It would be as effective, but I do not approve of complications or time consumption such plan would cost. And it is more efficient than testing those theories on animals for decades. I have done twice as much work over this week as you did in the last five years. And all because of what? _Morals_.”

Hyde spat that work out like a sour grape. Her lips contorted in a frown for a second before she cleared her expression. The annoyance she felt at her alter’s waste of precious time was not worth dispensing the energy she could use in a much better way.

Emma remained silent. She couldn’t beat that argument no matter how hard she tried. And, oh boy, did she! But one way or another all her counterarguments came to a halt in the face of two simple facts. One, Allison Hyde could not be stopped. The second stage of the serum transfiguration made her invincible, uncontrollable. And two, both of them needed to make more serum to survive.

It turns out there’s a lot of things you can let slide when faced with your own very real mortality. The first being all those pesky morals. Rational thinking takes over, justifications and self preservation dictate your choices and _that_ was where Allison always got the upper hand.

So she stood there at the corner and ascertained the possibilities. And just like before, after a short but hard fought inner battle with her principals Emma had joined in. The corners of Hyde’s mouth twitched, yet she didn’t let herself be distracted from the prize. The finishing touches were too close to let this one slip through their fingers.

A thin brunette caught her eye. She could be a potential. They had to be women, something about the genetic make up allowing for better compatibility. Swan knew the chemical formulas better, Allison had a firmer grip on the other side of the serum, the aspects of twisted science no ordinary person could grasp. Her eyes narrowed, nostrils pulling in the scent of that girl on the air.

“ _No, not her.”_

“Are you getting soft on me, Emma? Again,” grumbled Hyde.

“ _Not right now, no,”_ the voice inside her head sliced with a sharp tongue (or should it be a sharp thought?), getting too snippy for Hyde’s liking, _“She’s too young. Barely 19, maybe younger. She would not be able to survive the procedure long enough. The material will be tainted.”_

Allison had to nod, “Good point. What about that blonde on the third floor?”

The woman in question was leaning on the wall in their full view. She was talking to a client, the curtains of her room in the Britannia public house were only half-closed and Hyde’s superior vision put her on the palm of her hand. There was a shadow of a man there, which the girl was talking to, no doubt a client. Hyde haven't graced him with a single glance. He wasn’t important. The woman on the other hand…

“ _There’s something about her. Interesting. Is that..?”_

“Yeah,” murmured Allison, disappointed. The way that blonde put her hand on the man’s shoulder, the way her head tilted oddly to the side. And, most of all, the faintest tinge of ozone on the air, all made it plain who she was. “Another empath. We already have the data on them.”

“ _My thoughts exactly. It would be tricky if you still want to go after her.”_

“Relax, Miss Knight-in-Shining-Armor. She’s safe. I am heartless, but also efficient.”

The corner of Allison’s mouth twitched in reaction to her own joke when a smell reached her nostrils. Sweet, smooth scent with a hint of bitterness. Intriguing. She turned scanning the crown to find the source of that smell and – lo and behold! – there she was! A perfect target, Hyde knew it from the first sight! The woman walking out of the public house was young, but not too young. Maybe about 25 years old. She wasn’t any taller than Allison. Her face was gifted with natural beauty, though living in the slums had clearly left a trace on it. Still, her bright green eyes, just a tad turned up nose and shy smile made her nice to look at and quite a bit more, not to mention the scarlet head of hair carefully arranged in a high up style. She was wearing a simple dress. Her blouse was tainted to be forever a bit of yellowish color, the wear and tear on her corset and jacket were taken good care of but unmistakable. Her skirts were fanning around her hips and legs in enticing waves as she walked, but the wide trail of unwashable mud at the hem stuck out like a sore thumb. Black and gray colors of her dress were nothing surprising, yet a few strategically placed red ribbons – snaking around her waist and fitted to the edge of her cleavage – in addition to the ribbon in her hair had the desirable effect. Thus, despite the poor clothes, her curvy, buxom figure was what drew the eye.

“ _Yes. She does seem interesting. Although, I do think it’s more to our eyes than anyone else's. Look at the crowd.”_

And once again Swan was right. This girl strolled through the group of men like water. Sure she got a few glances, yet not one of them stopped her. There was something different about her. Hyde felt her instincts heighten, pushing her forward. As the woman made her way past the public house and crossed the street, Allison made to follow.

“ _Careful on the approach. Wait.”_

Allison was about to growl at Emma to leave her alone, but rational sense stopped her. The street was still too close to the more populated areas. And if some of the bouncers or the landlord’s lackey’s seen her with the girl, well, that might result in some complication she had no desire for. So she waited following the woman around the corner and in the alleyway she had herself eyed as a great point of exit. Though, as soon as they were relatively hidden from any prying eyes, Hyde made her move.

“Excuse me, Madam. Could I talk to you for a minute?”

The girl turned and her face reflected her surprise at hearing a female voice, but she steadied her features quickly telling of some experience. Pausing for a moment to take in Hyde’s appearance she then bobbed a curtsy and spoke up carefully despite her answer leaning towards cheeky.

“Of course, your Ladyship. But I’m too young and small to be called Madam. If it pleases you,” she added with haste.

Allison chuckled inwardly at the display. This girl played her part well. The interesting part not being her smooth curtsy or address, but almost complete disregard of Allison’s atypical attire. Hyde despised dressing like a ‘proper lady’. She wore a man’s suit, trousers, shirt, vest and jacket being adjusted by one generously paid tailor. The way she was leaning on one leg, wore a dark brown suit all screamed upper class, yet her dark mane of hair was freely spread about her shoulders, which in combination with the strong jaw and high cheekbones gave her a dangerous look no matter how hard she attempted to subdue it. Hyde was not something these women saw on a regular basis, not to say there weren’t women like Allison out there, at least of the similar appearance, but they were segregated to the upper class. So the only logical conclusion the girls could draw was that Hyde was here to spice things up. Getting down and dirty with the lower class to break the boredom of her indulgent life. What impressed her about the redhead was how swiftly she adjusted to such unusual potential client.

She smiled gently making sure her eyes grew calmer to a color of dark honey instead of that vibrant, unnatural yellow. Allison took another step forward still smiling broadly.

“Fair enough, Miss. You see, I’m not at all familiar with this neighborhood and I was getting rather tired walking around. It would be a great help if you could show me towards any place I could, perhaps, relax in a good company.” She inclined her head and raked her eyes over the girl’s figure leaving no doubts what company she meant.

“I see,” answered the girl biting her lip and lowering her eyes to the ground. Ah, she was good! “Your Ladyship could go to the pub across the street. Or there are lodgings, better ones, up the street… Or, um…” she hesitated pulling on one of her ribbons in what was supposed to be nervousness.

“Yes?” prompted Allison and her inner witness groaned.

“You could come with me!” sputtered the girl acting like this was the most courageous thing she ever done.

“Oh, that would be lovely. I have to admit, you seem like interesting company. Do you live around these parts?”

“Yes, your Ladyship. Just a bit up the road, here on Miller's Court.”

“What is your name, Miss?”

“Mary Jane Kelly, your Ladyship.”

“That is a pretty name, Mary Jane. My name is Allison Hyde. You can address me as Miss Hyde if you wish. Frankly, I do not approve of those obnoxious titles. Shall we?” Hyde offered her arm to the young woman like a proper gentleman would (if you could find one in London, she thought sarcasm dripping all over much to sudden amusement from Emma) and almost laughed out loud at the vixen pretending to be embarrassed and impressed.

They walked slowly up the street and Allison slowly inched closer and closer to the redhead. Then she lowered her lips to her ear and whispered: “I have a feeling you understand what kind of company I desire at the moment, don’t you Mary Jane?”

Allison grinned into the scarlet hair as the girl could not repress a shiver. She always had this effect on them all, something about the apex creature, one hair away from perfection. Not that Emma approved, she could almost feel her reproachful frown even if it was all in her head.

Kelly swallowed, licked her lips and uttered a quiet “Yes.”

“Good. If you offer me your best service, one that perhaps both of us can enjoy, there are two shillings in it for you. One before and one after. Oh, and if you are thinking about robbing me, I’d advise against it. I have been trained to prevent such things from happening. Do you understand me, Mary Jane?”

“Two shillings?” whispered the girl in shock, she had stopped in place and turned to look Allison in the face.

“Yes. That is probably more than you earn in a week. I might even increase that further _if_ you impress me with your hospitality.”

The redhead studied her with unscrupulous expression. All the shyness had gone from her face. She was measuring Hyde up, deciding if this arrangement was worth the trouble. What she didn’t know was that the result was already preordained. This girl could not possibly resist Hyde’s primal charm and the extremely generous offer to top it off. Thus when she nodded and extended her hand, Allison just smiled clasping the offered hand for a brief moment.

“Deal,” nodded Kelly, a few locks of her hair falling about her temples. “This way, Miss, please.”

The house they came to was nothing out of the ordinary, certainly not for these parts. It was small, standing too close to the street on uneven pavement. The windows were too big, too low to the ground for Hyde’s liking, but she could just make out rumpled drapes hanging on the inside. And this corner was basically dead at this time of night. So she stepped through the opened for her door and took a look around on the inside while her hostess locked up and busied herself with lighting candles and closing the drapes. It wasn’t as bad as Allison had expected. Obviously, this was a home of someone living in poverty, yet she could not see any signs of truly dire need. The house had only two rooms, barely separated by one thin inner wall. Hyde had already stepped through what she would call an entrance area, cupboards and hooks for outer clothing not piquing her interest. She proceeded further, inspecting, observing. The walls and ceiling were relatively clean, no signs of mold or structural damage, hardwood floor was cleaner than the pavement outside and a large portion of it was covered with what looked like homemade rugs, old, tattered at the edges, but in decent state. The same could be said about the furniture. One table, two chairs, some cupboards and shelves at the far wall where the small, completely blackened stove was hidden in the corner; a bed and a little table next to it. All of it was marked by age, the wood darkened and polished to an odd bleak shine from years of use. The open surfaces were covered with smaller rugs and the bed sported a large, darned kilt. The colors had faded, but at one point it had a checkered design woven into it. Blacks, greens and reds. The sheets peeking from beneath it as well as the single pillow were of the same yellowish tint as Kelly’s blouse. She likely had no means of whitening the fabric, however to Allison’s keen eyes and even keener sense of smell everything in this house was passably clean.

Finally, she turned to her hostess who had by that time finished setting up the candles. The room was illuminated in soft light and small shadows created interesting shapes on the walls. Mary Jane was simply staring at her not willing to make the first move – be it out of fear to mess up this opportunity or in an attempt to figure her out by giving Allison more room to maneuver, the result was the same. Hyde smiled and put her hand into the inner pocket of her jacket, she fished out a sizable purse and, after opening a tricky locking mechanism, pulled one silver coin out of it. With the same smile she lowered it on the table and left it there, replacing the purse to where it was before. Kelly glanced at the coin with some longing, but did not touch it. Perhaps, she was under the impression it would disappear, or maybe she wasn’t interested in it just yet.

Allison rolled her shoulders and took her jacket off. She put the fingers of both her hands into her hair and dragged them through the mane grunting as her nails scraped the skin. She glanced back up at the girl and started to undo her cufflinks.

“Hmm, Mary Jane, I suppose you would have some items for us to wash up after? I would very much like for you to prepare those beforehand, if you be so kind.”

Kelly swallowed and nodded distractedly. Her eyes had been glued to Allison's hands that had untied her tie and were on their way to fully unbuttoning her vest. She shook her head and hurried to retrieve a basin, tall jug of water and some cloths.

“It is alright with me if the water is cold. Frankly, I would prefer it,” called Hyde after her smirking.

As she draped her vest on top of the jacket hanging over the back of Kelly’s one of two chairs, Allison heard a grumbling in her head. Her lips twitched in further amusement as she sat down and began removing her shoes.

“ _Are you serious about this? We don’t have time for distractions. Whatever you are thinking about, Allison, it is out of the question!”_

“Be quiet, Emma!” murmured Hyde without moving her lips. “I’m tense and I can feel the power burning inside of me. I have to expel it somehow. Or would you prefer I take it out on more than one person a night?”

“ _No, of course not! But this girl! How can you go through with this? We both know she’s… She’s_

_going to…”_

“Yes, she is. Doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun beforehand. I am hungry, Swan,” growled Hyde inwardly, “I need to sate myself and you know there are only two ways to do it. So choose: either this or a bloodbath. I can go for either.”

“ _No… I… Please, Allison, you don’t have to–”_

“Oh, yes, I do! You’re just conflicted again because of _that woman_ ,” spat Hyde wordlessly, her hands making short work of her blouse buttons, the belt of her trousers being yanked a bit rougher than needed. “Well, it’s me who’s going to be doing the deed, so your conscience can rest easy.”

“ _I-I didn’t say that..”_

“You thought it. I know you, Emma, better than you know yourself. Cheating would blacken your pristine view of yourself, however delusional it may be. Now, you can go hide and turn away, but I will do what I want, when I want it and how I want it. And right now I want _her_.”

The voice in her head remained silent. Corner of Hyde’s mouth crept upwards at the small victory. She stood up, flexed her toes enjoying being barefoot, pushed her her drawers past her hips and let them fall to the ground. She stepped out of the garment, then picked it up from the floor and folded it. Placing the drawers on the chair she tilted her head and looked at the girl who had finished setting up the requested items on the table. Mary Jane was fussing with the cloth trying to hide the cautious glances she was throwing her way. Allison knew the sight she was presenting was more than enticing. Under the effects of the serum her body, already trained and taken care of by Emma Swan, had been filled with untamed, overwhelming energy. Her musculature was impressive, not well-defined on purpose, but telling of someone who had an immense amount of strength. Her skin was almost glowing with life, charged pulses moving below along with the rolling muscles. Allison had only unbuttoned her blouse, it was the only thing she had on at the moment, the view tempting with its mystery.

“Mary Jane,” husked Hyde drawing nearer to the young woman, “I’m certain it’s all already taken care of.”

As she slid behind Kelly Allison's nimble fingers taking the pins and that red ribbon out of her hair letting dark red locks fall down in smooth waves coming to lay several inches below her shoulders. Hyde slid her hand through the wave of scarlet moving it across Mary Jane’s neck and over her shoulder.

The young woman swallowed, tilted her head to glance back at her client and asked breathlessly, “How... What would you like me to do, Miss Hyde?”

“How about we get rid of your clothes? I am feeling underdressed.”

Allison took Kelly by the hand and guided her to the empty patch of wall beside the bed. She pressed the girl against it and slid her own body close. Smirking Hyde lowered her lips to the curve of Kelly’s neck and placed a few hungry kisses there. She nipped and sucked at the pliable flesh adoring the way Mary Jane’s pulse quickened, the breathing sped up and she let out a tiny squeak. Well, that was nice, yet Allison could feel the burning hunger rising in her, she needed to be faster about satisfying it. Sliding her hands over the girl’s curves she let herself enjoy the softness for a short while, then her skilled fingers pulled, untied and unbuckled. She pulled at the lacing behind Kelly’s back and Mary Jane fingers joined her at the front of her corset. A few minutes and the garment dropped to the floor. Allison attacked Kelly’s neck again as her arms tugged on one of her legs up. She gripped at the wonderful thigh, then went lower. She leaned back just long enough to untie and push Kelly’s shoes off one of her feet, then another. As soon as both feet were bare she pushed the girl against the wall, harder this time, and tugged at her skirts. Working in unison they made those clothes fall to the floor too, one layer after the other. Mary Jane remained only in her drawers and a short chemise. As Hyde went to slip the drawers off her hips, Kelly pulled the chemise over her head.

Allison leaned back to appreciate the sight. Mary Jane was gifted with natural beauty. Her figure followed a hourglass shape. Voluptuous curves of her thighs and hips blended seamlessly with well-defined waist. The slightly fuller planes of her stomach followed up to two perfect mounds of her chest. Her breasts had moved lover without the support of the corset, but they remained firm with dusky pink nipples. Allison studied her more closely, pulled the air through her nose. Despite living in poverty, Mary Jane figure was full, not overly so – her buxom appearance seemed perfectly natural as opposed to being caused by overindulgence, but it was hard to imagine that she lived through the hardships of Whitechapel. Her skin was clean and unblemished, Hyde could not sense a smell of sickness or dirt coming off of her. And when she smiled Allison saw rows of white teeth – none of the expected troubles plaguing the poverty stricken street women. On the contrary, she was desirable, too much so in fact.

Hyde let her own lips spread in a wide smile shaking her blouse of her shoulders. She wondered for a fleeting moment how could the other clients of this sneaky woman not notice the inconsistencies, however it had been replaced with certainty that she had the situation handled. The steady beat of molten heat against her sternum was too hard to resist. She needed to let the beast out, if only to ravish this gorgeous creature before her. Allison looked directly into those wide green eyes, which turned almost teal in the soft light of the candles and lunged forward.

This time she had no reservations from pressing the redhead hard against the wall and covering her mouth with her own. She wasted no time pushing her tongue in and relished the deep, guttural moan that pulled out of Mary Jane’s throat. Her arms shot us and sneaked around Allison’s neck, fingers digging into her hair. Hyde’s hands cupped Kelly’s firm breasts, she kneaded the pliable flesh feeling those cute nipples hardening against her palm. Not getting enough she pinched and rolled the peaks between her fingers, then groped Kelly’s chest again, her hands becoming rougher, more demanding. The girl writhed below her pushing back against the wall, clamping her thighs tighter together and moaning into Allison’s mouth as their tongues slid together. It seems, none of her clients were on par with what Alison was doing. Or, perhaps, there was something about Hyde’s transformation that drove her targets wild. This wasn’t the first time.

Allison left hand remained closed over Kelly’s plump breast as her other hand slithered down along her side, over the curve of that just slightest bit rounded abdomen. Her nails scratched their way past the belly button, teased into the growth of hair along Mary Jane’s pubic bone. She growled and bit Kelly’s lower lip as her thighs were still closed shut. Using her other hand and pressing the girl into the wall with her shoulder, Allison pushed her legs apart, gripped Mary Jane right thigh and guided it up and around her waist. Kelly gasped and her head lolled back as she was forced to stand on one leg and Allison’s body was slotted in-between her now parted legs. Satisfied that she was in the right pose, Hyde sneaked her arm between them, her fingers finding that sweet spot. She delved right in sliding along the wet folds, moving the thin hairs out of the way. Her lips found that wonderful curve of Mary Jane’s throat and began their descend at the same time as her fingers caressed and explored. Allison sucked and nipped at the flesh just above Kelly’s clavicle. The breathy moans falling out of the girl's mouth – the sweetest song to her ears. Mary Jane was squirming, her eyes closed, mouth open and head dropped back on the wall. She was holding onto the wall behind her with one hand while the other was roaming and clutching at Allison’s head, shoulders, her back and arms.

Demanding lips trailed kisses lower until Hyde was able to bite the top of Kelly’s breast. She bend at her waist and pulled one of those nipples into her mouth. At the same time as her tongue lavished attention to Mary Jane’s nipples in turns, her fingers found the swollen bud at the top of her mound. Allison teased at the bundle of nerves with wide, steady circles drinking the whimpers and soft cries of pleasure like so much needed nourishment. Then her fingers slipped lover, all thoroughly coated by the girl’s wetness up to her palm. She circled the tights ring of muscle with the pads of her fingers and finally, after a few more sucks and bites, left the girl’s generous bosom. Hyde straightened up leaning in and breathing hard a few inches away from Kelly’s face. Her fingers stilled.

Mary Jane let out a whimper, her arms pulled at Hyde’s biceps, but she wouldn’t budge. Not until those eyes opened and dark honey met blown, darkened teal. Just as Mary Jane looked at her Allison pushed in in a single motion to the last knuckle with two of her fingers. Kelly gasped, her mouth fell open and her grip on Allison’s biceps would have been painful if she could feel pain like ordinary people. Instead she relished every little detail of Mary Jane’s beautiful face as she set up to a fast, unforgiving, but at the same time smooth rhythm. The waves of pleasure rolling over the body, which was completely at her mercy, were like the hundred year old wine sating her thirst. All the sounds Mary Jane was making, the expressions on her face, all served to make that ball of hot magma in her chest purr like a kitten instead of raging rhino. The slickness surrounding her fingers, the grip of muscles, the slight quiver of those inner walls – oh, that was delectable! The high pitched cry that floated out of Kelly’s chest as she moved the base of her palm to put pressure on her clit in time with her thrusts was absolutely magnificent. However, the girl could not possibly take much more of this pace. The leg she was standing on was trembling uncontrollably. Hyde pushed her free arm around the redheads other thigh and pulled her up until both her legs criss-crossed behind her back. Mary Jane locked her ankles in a death grip around her waist, the girls hips buckling into the thrusts. All the while Hyde continued to stare the girl straight in the eyes. Allison grabbed a handful of Kelly’s delicious behind holding her up against the wall, which with her inhuman strength was not a troublesome task at all. Yet this could not go on for long, even with the pressure taken off her leg, Mary Jane was clearly spiraling towards climax. Her inner walls tensed gripping Allison’s pumping fingers, the expression in her eyes became just a tad unfocused. Allison could feel it coming, she surged forward invading Mary Jane’s mouth with her tongue as she increased the pressure on her clit. The girl almost screamed into her mouth, her legs trembling and muscles quivering around Alison's fingers as orgasm overtook her. Hyde prolonged her release as long as she could pumping her fingers at a slower pace and caressing Kelly’s tongue with her own, then breaking the kiss and lavishing attention to her throat.

When the last tremors of aftershock resided Allison turned with the young woman in her hands. She pulled the kilt off the bed while effortlessly holding her prize with one arm. Then she lowered Mary Jane on the bed. She sat next to her waiting for those teal eyes to flutter open and savoring the sight of her chest rising and falling. The thin layer of sweat covering Kelly’s body along with her stomach and thighs still trembling was a sight to behold. Be they in another set of circumstances, Allison could perhaps feel a bit of disappointment about the fate that awaited this magnificent creature. Perhaps, though not now.

Kelly opened her eyes and stared at her client. She bit her lips and started to fidget with her hands that lay on her belly. She glanced to the side, then caught Allison’s eye and mumbled, “I’m sorry, Miss.”

“For what?” replied Allison more curious than anything. She could indulge in idle curiosity for some time before this night will have to come to a close. She knew this alluring creature won't answer with the truth, but that was the interesting part.

“I–I didn’t… You… I haven’t serviced you, Miss. You–I don’t understand why you did that to me… No one ever… That was–”

Hyde stopped the girl’s deliberate babbling with an open laugh. “Do you mean to ask me why have I ravished you against the wall, huh? Why have I kissed you since no one ever had before? Why did I bring you to the heights of pleasure you haven’t known before? Was that what you wanted to know, Mary Jane?”

“Y-yes,” breathed out the girl pulling her fingers up to her lips, and that did not seem like an act for once.

“Because I liked it,” answered Allison. “I loved to see you lose it, I enjoyed taking you. It satisfied an urge of mine. I thought you’d understand. Don’t worry, that was a part of the service I require and I must say you did really good.” Allison paused, then her smile grew with new hunger. “Now, then. I say you have earned those two shillings already. Care to earn some more?”

“Yes, Miss,” whispered the girl acting all shy in reminiscence of their meeting.

“Alright, dear. I will be requiring your mouth this time. Is that agreeable?”

“Definitely,” murmured Kelly. Oh, she managed to show Hyde an adorable grin from behind those fingers!

Allison got up on the bed. She slung her leg over Kelly’s head and got more comfortable on her knees. They both were located at the head of the bed, the headboard and the wall less that an arm length away for purchase. Allison was grinning like the cat that caught that proverbial canary. She lowered her pelvis lower, Kelly’s arms sneaking around her thighs from below. The look on that pretty face was priceless as Mary Jane surveyed cleanly shaven mound before her eyes. Allison knew full well how wet she was, her swollen lips must be glistening in the light of the candles. She watched her pray from under the hooded yes. Even though taking Mary Jane and seeing her dissolve in the throes of pleasure had somewhat calmed the roaring fire inside her, it had not been quelled completely. She could feel the embers beginning to bloom with new flames. Thus she watched, her eyes getting more vibrant below the half-closed eyelids, more akin those of a hawk. The girl underneath her was exquisite, absurdly so for these forgotten slums. Mary Jane’s face softened as she stared her fill at Allison frozen so open and inviting above her, the line between her brows disappeared, her teal eyes glinting. She swallowed hard, bit her lip and pulled Allison closer.

The first lick of that tongue was purposely tentative. Only the tip, teasing. Then, as if getting in touch with her courage, Kelly let out her tongue and delved deeper inside her folds. Allison sighed feeling a steady rumbling being born deep in her chest, but traveling up to her throat. Kelly lapped at her, she seemed to savor the taste, the feel of her texture, every nook and curve. Her tongue pressed harder. At first careful, explorative movement grew hungrier, Mary Jane’s tongue being added by her lips, her mouth becoming relentless. Still, all she was doing was caressing and exploring Hyde’s swollen lips, the tender flesh deeper and leaving her clit woefully neglected. What she did, however, was apparently enjoying the taste, the smell and feel of her. Mary Jane pulled Hyde closer still as if begging for more contact and Allison responded gleefully. One of her arms shot up to lean on the rough, irritable surface of the wall while the other traveled down from her clavicle. She caressed the swell of her breasts on the way, scratched a trail along her perfectly toned stomach and then migrated to the face between her thighs. She gave a light caress to Kelly’s cheek, the girl opening her eyes at the touch. And, yes, Allison could see it – Kelly was loving it. Her pupils had almost completely covered the small ring of teal and that blush on her cheeks was just as cute. Allison weaved her fingers into the red hair and tugged the girl to continue.

She wasn’t sure if it was really something Kelly liked or that primal magnetism of her persona was what drove the girl so wild, but she moaned against the spot where Allison was slick and ready, the vibrations causing her to shiver in pleasure. Mary Jane was using both her tongue and her mouth to please her now, the pressure of those small sucks and even audacious nips resonating in the ball of tension at the base of her abdomen. The one that had been growing ever since Hyde had decided to partake in this little relaxation. The rumbling had reached her throat in one final jump and Hyde let it out with a moan. Her hand tugged Kelly’s mouth higher, her hips angled and as Mary Jane’s lips closed around Allison’s hard clit, she hissed through her teeth. A few flicks of tongue and some well-applied pressure and she was coming. Allison growled leaning forward, she pushed Kelly’s mouth closer to her mound as the wave of orgasm crashed over her. Her toes curled and fingers dug into the wall. She squished all the air out of her lungs as her body shuddered with contractions.

Hyde leaned back putting more of her weight on her legs and feet. She dislodged her fingers out of the wall and flicked the mess of dark brunette locks out of her face. Allison let out a long, shaking and appreciative groan, then her eyes flew open and she looked down at Mary Jane. Her red locks were strewn all over the sheets and the girl was grinning, though said grin was half obstructed. Still, Allison could see all the clear wetness covering Kelly’s lower face. She was gently lapping the liquid that had gushed out of Allison. There was something unabashedly wicked about it, something wrong and daringly decadent shining in Mary Jane right at that moment. From the way she abrasively savored Allison’s taste, all shyness forgotten, to the merry-go-round way she was wiggling and swinging her toes underneath Hyde. But at the same time all that served to stir the flames in Hyde, fuel her hunger and jade her anger.

Spreading her lips into a crooked smirk, she got a firmer hold of Kelly’s hair and growled, “Again!”

The girl went to work without a single complaint, rather she had practically purred in delight. Nothing in this joyful creature had remained of the shy, uneducated girl pushed into prostitution by harshness of her life in poverty. This was a relentless, beautiful creature, rapturous and hungry for her. Without warning Allison started canting her hips and Mary Jane immediately adjusted her mouth and the angle of her head to accommodate. The friction of her tongue against Allison, precisely timed nips and sucks were driving her towards the next release in no time. Hyde’s arm hot up crushing the brick of the wall under her fingers in an attempt to stay firmly upright. Creaking sounds of the old bed had only spurred her on. The rolling of her hips became sharper, thrusts shorter, angled lower. Her hand in Kelly’s hair tugged and the girl closed her mouth around the hard point of her clit. She sucked and lapped at it with her tongue as Allison’s rocking grew just a tad frantic. She felt her inner walls clench, muscles quivering and another orgasm shook her body.

Allison took several long breaths, she leaned back and swiped her hair back over her shoulder. Pleasant tingles were running up her inner thighs. The warmth spilling over the insides of her abdomen was so much better than the ball of boiling rage and tension that resided there previously. She untangled her fingers out of the mess of scarlet locks, drew both her hands back and wiggled her middle from side to side feeling the unbearable, bursting levels of energy subsiding. Hyde glanced down at the happily giggling girl under her and gave her an approving smile. She carefully swung her leg over Mary Jane and sat sideways on the edge of the bed. Allison reached over and ran her fingers over Kelly’s neck, down between her collarbones, over the swell of her breasts and lover giving her sides and belly a scratching caress. The girl was too busy cleaning up her face to react properly, she just blinked like a cat and hummed.

With her body wonderfully re-envigorated, most the stifling tension gone, Allison stood up and padded over to the table. Her front was glistening with sweat, a reflective trail glinting in the valley between her breasts, something she supposed was inevitable with her heightened metabolism. She could feel the tiny droplets gathering at the base of her spine, too. Grabbing a prepared cloth she dabbed it in the cold water in the basin and ran the damp fabric over the muscles of her neck and shoulders. Ah, that was nice! Placing the cloth back on the table for later, Hyde stretched her nude body letting the joints crack back into place and expelling the soreness out of her muscles. She let her hands drop heavily on the back of the chair where her jacket hung. She had placed it here for a reason, yet she wasn’t sure if the time had come to use the items in question.

“I had a wonderful time so far, my dear. This night is sure looking to be something to remember.”

She heard a gleeful mutter of “Too bad it's gonna be your last,” accompanied by a loud hiss before she turned towards the sound.

The first thing she saw was the change. Mary Jane's face transformed. Her green eyes were clouded with redness, mouth contorted in a snarl and canines extended to twice the size – sharp, bared and deadly. The vampire Mary Jane, and that's what she was truly – the predator under that sweet, lusty persona, was in mid lunge. Her arms reaching out, nails elongated into claws, such a glorious, free animal! Remarkable part of nature's design.

The second thing Allison saw was how that animalistic rage and thirsty greed had been washed off her face in the wake of surprise. Still in mid jump Kelly had been absolutely stunned. Apparently it was not often that one of her victims moved faster than she did. The more was her shock when she felt a pickle of a syringe at her neck. The vampire bugged her eyes and fell limply into Hyde’s waiting arms.

Her head swiveled and fell to the side. “What– How? What have you done to me?” she spluttered as Allison carried her back to bed.

“Oh, just a cocktail of sedatives and nerve paralytics. You won't be able to move or feel anything below your neck. Makes the procedure easier. Though the sedatives are more of a habit of my predecessor, absence of pain really doesn't taint the process. You might as well consider it an unexpected benefit.”

Allison laid the vampire out on the bed, examined her reactions and when she was satisfied Kelly could neither move nor feel any of her extremities she moved back to the chair where her clothes were folded and hung. She fussed with the secret pocket of her jacket and, through a barely noticeable opening she drew out a package. It looked like one of the medical kits surgeons unused in the field, but thinner, smaller. In practice, this was exactly what it was, albeit with a few adjustments. Hyde took it with her to the bed talking to the vampire all the while.

“I hope you are not under the delusion that I haven’t figured you out the minute I laid eyes on you, Mary Jane. It is alright if I still call you that? I’m sure that is not your real name.” She unlocked the straps and unrolled her kit on the side of the bed. “I do commend you on the act, it was impeccable. Bravo, my dear! And, as long as we’re on the complementing part, let me tell you, that mouth of yours… mm-hmmm! You had helped me take the edge off. Which you certainly can relate to, sweetheart, can’t you? What with all that vampire thirst for blood. Although, my hunger is of a different variety.”

Hyde opened up both folds of the kit showing off her instruments. The polished, sharp metal gleamed in the candle light. Mary Jane eyed him with not at all concealed loathing and anger. Her eyes remained filled with blood, fangs extended, biting into her lower lip as she snarled. Allison spared her no mind examining her tools, pulling out sharp lacerators. She fished out a flask with some powder, “For the ice,” was her absentminded explanation addressed to the vampire that wasn’t interested in any. Making sure that everything was in order Allison focused her attention on Mary Jane.

“Listen, honey, I’ll put it plainly, just how it is: you’re the final ingredient I needed. To be more precise, your heart.” Catching Kelly’s bulging eyes and paling expression Hyde nodded. “Yes, I know. You can’t survive without a heart, one of the few weak points you vampires have. Cut off your head or damage your heart, right? I heard burning and cutting your kind into small pieces works too, haven’t tried it myself. You know, I genuinely wish there could be some other way to avoid this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to go through with your procedure, but what a shame, really!” Hyde shook her head. “We just got to know each other and I did enjoy your company. You could have even earned yourself a few drops of my blood instead if those useless to you shillings, huh? But oh well.”

Hyde maneuvered herself up the bed and straddled the ageless girl’s thighs. “I’m afraid I’ll have to remove your tongue and fangs first. And eviscerate your face as well. Nothing personal, I need a way to lessen your regenerative abilities to empty your bowels and cut your heart out.” She leaned lower, “Oh, and, by the way, thank you for the cleaning supplies. I usually get naked for this part and it’s a great help to be able to clean up after. You really are the best of my unwilling donors so far.” Allison pulled out a long, scythe-like blade, “Any last words before we begin?”

The vampire snarled and hissed in her face, “Go to hell, you disgusting mortal piece of–”

Hyde’s hand had stopped her by delving deep into her mouth completely oblivious to those razor sharp fangs tearing her flesh. Those wounds were inconsequential.

“Well, then. Let us begin.” And she made the first swift, wide incision, a spray of blood hitting her in the chest. This wasn’t going to be the last of it.

Several hours later Hyde had packaged the heart in a clean, filled with ice and tightly sealed bag. Cleaned her body, dressed herself and left the small house without a solitary glance back at the eviscerated body or the bloody mess she left. The steady _drip-drip-drip_ of red continued from the soaked bed onto the floor. The remnants of the dead vampire, her secret identity hidden now better than when she was alive, were left to be discovered by the morning. Or whenever the landlord’s lackey’s were going to show up to collect. This nightly predator’s cover was going to be left intact as opposed to her own self.

Hyde moved with purpose through the streets of Whitechapel. It was getting closer to morning and her time was running out. Not that she was concerned with police. Those fools could not possibly catch her. There were other, far reaching consequences awaiting them if she took too long to get to her hideout. Allison stopped next to the building she always used to climb up to leave Whitechapel. The ladder was a few feet high up above, nothing extraordinary for her. She pulled her watch out of its vest pocket and glanced down at it. Almost five in the morning. Not ideal, but it will do. They had counted this contingency on par with all the others. She sighed preparing to jump when at the corner of her eye she noticed a movement in the shadows of the alleyway. Hyde was calculating the speed at which she needed to be moving to break the neck of whoever it was and carry on her merry way, but a pointed voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Stop right there! Do not move!”

Ooo, that's a familiar voice!

“Doctor Emma Swan, I order you to remain still! One move and I will have to act!”

Allison squashed the tiny whisper reeling up in her mind – this wasn’t the time for her alter to be messing up her plans! – and turned her head slightly.

The Detective was there. Standing in the twilight of the alcove she held a pistol in her hand. It would have been cute: a prim and proper lady, dressed to be visiting the Court in deep blue and purple, standing there and threatening her with some pistol! It would have been if not for Allison’s knowledge. If not for Emma’s even more intimate knowledge. Regina Mills was not to be trifled with. Granted, she couldn’t kill them, but to incapacitate and then capture? Oh, yes. Allison tensed up and, making a split-second decision, raised her arms putting a little shakiness in the movement.

“Excuse me, who? My name is Allison Hyde. I'm afraid I don't know anyone going by the name Emma Swan. Did you say she is a doctor? There is a clinic not that far from here–”

“Stop playing games!” Regina’s voice was like a punch to the stomach. Even with the unfinished, faulty formula coursing through her veins she was formidable.

Yet she made a mistake. She made a mistake all those fools in love do. She saw what she wanted to see. A way to appeal to the person she wanted to save. Her voice, ordering, pleading, hypnotizing was drilling itself into Hyde’s mind, but it wasn’t enough. Emma was already under lock and key. Detective underestimated her mark.

A few practiced moves and the pistol flew out of Regina’s hand and into the drain. The metallic clink of the weapon as it fell deeper down the thin well echoed in the alleyway. One more jump and Allison vaulted over the parapet. Her hands gripped the rusty piece of ladder, arms tightened, muscles bulged and she ripped it out of its sockets and send the useless piece flying. A loud bang and a bullet flying past her temple made Hyde whirl around. Regina was standing there, below. A miniaturized flintlock pistol in her hand. Tiny thing, just one charge worth. She must have been hiding it on her person somehow. Allison’s avian eyes met the deep chocolate ones, so full of anger and longing and need Hyde thought her own heart had been almost swayed.

Or would have been if she had one.

Allison Hyde put one of her booted feet on the parapet and leaned with elbow perched on her knee. She looked down at the woman, out of reach, helpless.

“I'm terribly sorry, Detective, but this is likely the last time we meet. In which case we might as well be honest for a change. I had enjoyed our games very much, but all good things come to an end. You have lost. However, you shouldn't feel bad about it. You came close, my congratulations.” Hyde let out a short bark of mirthless laughter, “Those useless policemen are looking for someone called John Druitt, the papers are calling me Jack the Ripper, and though some of it is appropriate, all I can muster for them is a chuckle. You know better than anyone, Regina, or I should say Miss Mills, that they are on their way to being extinct. The future belongs to us, the evolved, not to them. Truthfully, I have no ill will towards them. Not unlike a farmer has any ill will towards his cattle or a forester with his trees. I can do my work and just watch as they all die out or exterminate themselves for all I care. The golden age will be ushered with or without them, and you know it.”

She paused awaiting a response, but Regina stood still and looked at her with those deep eyes. The hand with the pistol fell to her side. Hyde patted her hand over the bulge in her jacket pocket where the vampire heart was stashed.

“At last I have all I need and I do despise this city so very much. So this is goodbye. To you and to London. You were too late. Valiant effort nonetheless, Madam. Be seeing you, or not.”

Allison Hyde turned around and disappeared among the rooftops of London. She did not look back and all her concentration was on moving as quickly and efficiently as possible. At least her alter-ego was safely tucked away in the corner of her mind waiting for her moment to emerge.

The sun was coming up when she reached the hidden entrance. As she was getting into the lair Allison felt the telltale signs of the transformation waning. Her arms and legs were draining of strength, the unlimited amounts of energy burning like a sun in her chest were being exhausted. She had just enough time to get down the ladder and make sure everything was secured before her mind was no longer hers and the body that belonged to her collapsed to the floor.

Five seconds of blackness and their body shuddered. The convulsions ran up and down their limbs making the body arch on the harsh floor, the scream their mouth released bounced against the thick walls not getting out. This bunker was too secure, too deep underground beneath many pounds of rock and steel and earth. The body on the floor was being thrown against it like a rag doll. Their skin lost some of its shine, the majestic mane of dark hair was being drained of its color as if someone was sucking the ink out of paper. Blonde tresses replaced brunette curling far more than before. The eyes that opened up and bulged on a pale face, in addition to the mouth opening and closing in search of oxygen like a fish thrown ashore, those eyes were green-blue instead of avian yellow. More blue in this lighting than green, though the slight tint at the edges of her irises remained.

Emma Swan fell back on the cold floor and curled on herself. She pulled her knees to her chest and wept, the floodgates opening and tears streaming the side of her face. She sobbed uncontrollably while her body shook and shivered.

“ _Our body,”_ spat a disembodied voice, all in her head. And those words were like a hit of a whip. Emma curled tighter and clasped her hands over her head.

“ _No, dear, you can’t get away from me! It’s too late. Now get yourself together, you pathetic excuse for a living being! Get up!”_

She just shook her head not wanting to listen. Emma was in control of herself again, but deep down she knew it was just an illusion. She could not stop hearing Hyde, she couldn’t escape this.

“ _That’s right, you imbecile. Get up right this instant and get to work! Or do I need to remind you what will happen if you refuse the serum again?”_

Against her will Emma pulled out of her embryo pose forcefully. Oh, yes, her body remembered that one time! _She_ remembered. The ache that rolled down her spine column at the memory was calming, or rather shocking. It was the memory of that pain, the pain Emma Swan, a field medic who had served in two different armed conflicts, who had been bitten by poisonous Indian snakes, got her side torn by an abnormal two hundred pound crocodile, endured red scarlet fever and getting a perforated lung by falling on some broken glass, and still that pain was the worst kind she had experienced. The suffering of not taking the serum was more than any living creature could take, she was sure of it. The more was her shame and regret at being the one who invented it. She pulled a ragged breath through her teeth being almost lost in the memory of that one time…

“ _Quit whining! If you don’t want to put us through this again, get to work! We have 16 hours left! I have done my part, now do yours!”_

Allison’s voice was getting louder in her head, but Emma was still in the throes of both the change and her memory. The kaleidoscope of what she witnessed through Hyde’s eyed this night was keeping her mesmerized.

“ _GEEEET UUUUUP!”_

Hyde’s seething roar finally had the desired effect. Emma jerked, then jumped up to her feet scrambling to stand up straight and push all the unwanted thoughts from her head. 16 hours would have to do, even though it would be barely enough time for the gestation period. She couldn’t think about what this all meant, what the future would bring or what she had done, what Emma was responsible for regardless of the fact that she wasn’t in control of her actions. There was no time to dwell on it. Not unless she wanted to go mad with the pain or, perhaps kill herself.

“ _We have tried, remember?”_ chuckled Hyde, suddenly quite as amused as she had been angry. _“We are immortal, indestructible. Better get used to it, sweet cheeks.”_

She felt her own lips stretch in a half-mirthful half-sad smile. Emma couldn’t pinpoint when, but at some point she grew to appreciate Allison’s sometimes dry, sometimes cruel humor. At least, no matter what she was, Hyde always was looking out for both of them. After all, they were one and the same.

“Hey, um,” Emma began as she went towards the lab removing her jacket on the way and taking the white lab coat off the hook, “thank you for… for _her_.”

“ _Yeah, well. I promised you I won’t kill her. That’s all I’m going to allow for. Mills has her way out now. Maybe she will give up, stop chasing us. She better.”_

“Maybe…” agreed Emma out loud.

She started on her work putting on protective apron and gloves, heating up the equipment and turning on the generators. A vampire’s heart got transferred into the incubator after being injected with the proper solution. Emma did it all mechanically not needing most of her brain to control these simple procedures. Her mind was drawn back to the woman standing in the alley way looking after them. The miniaturized flintlock feebly hanging by her side. Emma thought of the one person she had loved with all her heart, loved and lost. And, for once, Allison Hyde simply let her have it.

Emma Swan thought of Regina Mills, she thought of the good times and the bad. And she wished, despite how it made her heart shatter in a thousand pieces, she begged the invisible powers above – the ones she didn’t really believe in – that they would never see each other again.

 

 


	3. Sloth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Apologies for the lateness, I had been prevented from writing for a few days. I have pretty much accepted that the rest of this fic will be posted hugely delayed. However, I do promise to deliver a good story, okay? Also, I would love to know what you thought of it!

_Somewhere in the Grampian Mountains, Scotland.  
_ _14th of August, 1896._

The soles of her boots made little noise as she descended the stone steps. They were curved inward from age and slowly succumbing to the elements. The staircase carved into the bowels of the mountain ridge let her go deeper and deeper. The air became stifling at times until she reached another crossing and crossed over a bottomless pit, the only way over being a three steps wide stone bridge without railings – just a slab of dark monolithic rock thrown to the other side and secured by slowly rusting metal clamps.

These were not the only perilous obstacles Regina Mills had to overcome to reach her destination. The dangers and inaccessibility of the caverns was actually the point, otherwise she could have as well chosen her own cellar.

The soft sounds of water drops hitting the stone somewhere in the distance accompanied her careful steps. And, despite being adamant about the caverns being desolate for over two centuries, Regina couldn’t help but wonder what it would have looked like before, how everything would have changed if the builders that left this all had not been forgotten by history. Regina chuckled as she pushed past some fallen rocks. This had reminded her of some passages in Jules Verne journals. The Frenchman having become a sort of unofficial biographer of Jacques Arago and his less known adventures around the world of myths and legends. She had the privilege to meet both men and achieve somewhat of a friendship, their views on the English notwithstanding. Some of Jules writing was delving into true fiction, mostly out of necessity, but a great deal of it was steeped in fact. The Hollow Earth, a world below, was not like he described it, intentionally changing details so that no one from the New or the Old World would be able to gain access to that pristine land, yet the spirit of that expedition had remained intact.

As she walked past another almost invisible door, solid metal rock frame covered with masterful camouflage so that it blended in with the rough stone walls, she thought more on those journals and tales she heard from them. The world outside of England was a curious one, and though she always had thought about traveling, there was always too much to do.

A deep sigh pushed itself out of her. Her eyes narrowed and Regina clamped her mouth shut, but the weakness had claimed her mind and didn’t want to let go. All this reminiscence served one purpose – to distract her from where she was going and what she had to do after reaching her destination, though it wasn’t serving to lighten her mood one bit. Those old, so distant now, plans of traveling and seeing the world as it is were no more than a foolish dream. She had been foolish. Dreaming about taking some time to enjoy the unfamiliar settings, being caught up in the stories. No, not those journals or the letters from Jac, but the stories she heard from Emma.

The way she had animatedly talked about India and Afghanistan. The beauty she had managed to see even amidst the chaos of war. Emma had always believed in finding something to make every day matter, find some purpose in what she was doing. Being a surgeon out in the field had helped her fulfill that mission. Traveling around and seeing all the different cultures and nature’s creation was something of an additional benefit, as she herself often recalled. Watching her talk wistfully about the days in the military made Regina’s mind wander. How could she have become like that? Emma had been so close to growing up as Regina had, a cynical, even sarcastic realist. Only Doctor Swan’s unforeseeable invasion in her life had made her remember what it was like to see a brighter future. Emma had extracted a romantic out of her heart, something Regina was sure died a long time ago. And Emma… Emma almost fell to the same bleak view of the world. If not for her distant relatives taking her in… Regina shuddered to think of what being orphaned at such an early age could have done to Emma if not for those people.

Turning a corner Regina took a long look at the map in her hand. This was the place. She had indeed memorized the layout of the underground system, but the way into the chamber she wanted to access was trickier than any other spot in this labyrinth. The gasoline lamp she brought with was already hung on an unnatural hook in the side of the tunnel, the metal of this broken off beam might well have been older than some modern countries histories. She leaned against the ancient rock letting her overcoat slide open around her hips. The light caught on the bronze of the buttons of her crimson blouse. She had dressed for this trip to the underground caverns, the heat emanating from the Earth’s core made any extra garments that could have served her up above, in the winds of Scottish highlands irrelevant.

Regina straightened. The lapels of her knee long coat slipped around the studded deep brown leather of her pants. Hooking into the wide soft leather belt and slipping her fingers under the slight indentation of the secret pocket she fished out a slip of metal. It wasn't like any normal key. The small, polished plate had several holes in it and a rigid set of indentations over one of its sides. She looked around the rough, damaged by an old rock slide wall. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it. From the first glance. Upon further inspection a keen eyes such as hers would notice several inconsistencies in color, texture, humidity. There was something off about this stretch of wall. Not unlike the rest of the tunnel it was similarly lit up and it was angled in the proper way, taking into account time and environmental damage, however this exact spot was ever so slightly inconsistent.

Her fingers traveled along the rough surface searching for what she knew was there. Regina had been here a handful of times, she had set this up herself in the first place, yet the clever camouflage mechanism eluded her every time. Granted, not for long, a few minutes at best, but the ancient builders could have been proud of their work. Not easy to fool Detective Supreme (a nickname Regina entirely despised regardless of however accurate it had proven to be). Finally, feeling the barely perceptible slot underneath her fingers Regina let out a sigh of relief. She placed the plate at the slot, pushed it in and the key slid into its place like a charm.

The camouflage had dropped almost immediately and mechanisms inside the wall began to work pulling the monolithic door up. Gears and levers shifted for several minutes until Regina could get in, which required her to bend low and hold on to her hat. The cavern beyond was not all that large. Maybe fifteen steps in every direction, an oval shaped hall was a shock after the ruined tunnels. It looked like it had been refurbished a couple of years ago, even the layers of dust and spiderwebs at the corners couldn’t intrude on that impression. The walls were smooth, polished to a glossy sheen, one which had been just slightly dulled by the years. The ceiling contained some kind of mirror apparatus that delivered light from the surface. And the floor was curved in smooth, even steps descending to the middle.

Regina looked around only noting absentmindedly that the door slid closed behind her. After all, she still had the key and could exit at any time. Instead she began to circle the room slowly, taking one step at a time. All the while her eyes haven’t left the stone table in the middle. She swallowed at the first glance, then closed her eyes for a moment. Once they were open again, the chocolate of her eyes gleamed with pushed back moisture.

“You know,” Regina began as she moved, unhurried steps shifting dust under her leather boots. “The creatures that build this place were masters of preservation. There are at least fifteen more chambers like this here. All sealed and empty, but preserved in pristine state. I suppose, they thought this could help them survive what was coming, but alas, it didn’t.” Regina took a few more steps, her eyes locating a metallic stool she had left the last time. “I’ve been reminded of Jules’ journals while climbing down here. I’m not certain why – the story behind this place is so very unlike what he had written about.”

Taking the last step up to the massive stone table Regina let her bag drop to the floor and remained silent and motionless for a moment. Her gaze traced the still form on top of the polished surface. The first instinct pushed her to carefully examine the locks and chains that were placed around the unflinching figure. There were a lot of them, a real cocoon of best steel and metalwork Regina managed to acquire. Thin and thick chains wrapped around the feminine, relaxed form, locks linked them together combining the strength with ingenuity of engineering. The ends of the chains were melted into the floor, impossible to rip out without a heat source. Everything was appearing to be in order, none of the links were damaged. Regina breathed out, one of the weights being lifted off her shoulders, the pressure she had not even realized was there all along. Aside from checking on the binds she had avoided looking at the person bound. It was too early to do that, she had to prepare herself.

A self deprecating chuckle left her lips as she took a seat on the stool. Even all her training and supposed detachment was useless now. “I suppose, this really is a special case. These caverns are not mentioned in any journals. I haven't told you about it, frankly there wasn’t enough time to let you in an every one of my little secrets. Hardly anyone in the world, be it this or any other, knows about this place. The wide-spanning net of tunnels and closed, secret passageways deep below the Scottish mountains. A mystery. The stories of the times when these underground dwellings were lit and full of life had long since passed into legend, even those have been forgotten by the larger portion of the people up above. Only the fisherman of the Shetland islands kept some mentions of the _Wulver_ in their tales and songs, however twisted those had become with time.”

Regina paused looking around the chamber, noticing the ancient writing on some of the surfaces. The meaning of the language had mostly been lost to time. She, along with a small group of researchers, managed to decipher some of the letters and words, but not many. A tiny tip of the iceberg.

“In truth,” she continued, “long before the gaelic and celtic settlements, before the Romans there was a vast, prosperous Kingdom in these mountains. _Licanus Postelerius._ The ‘ownership of the moon walkers’. That is as close as she could interpret the meaning of it. A powerful Kingdom populated by ancient werewolves. Incredibly advanced for its time. Brilliant underground builders, they had incredibly machinery and better understanding of sciences, especially medicine than any other society at the height of their power. how ironic it was that their whole society was brought down by a sickness. A mutated strand of simple flu virus. It had targeted their genetic compatibility with animal genes, traveled far and fast. The outbreak was swifter than their doctors had predicted. It covered the entire Kingdom and left only these empty hallways as a reminder of one proud and mighty people.”

Regina pursed her lips and finally let her eyes travel down from the ceiling to where she had been afraid to look. “That is what we have theorized had happened here. There’s not enough evidence to prove most of it, I’m afraid. But the story is an interesting one, don’t you agree?”

Her hand had risen slowly from its place in her lap. Her fingers trembled and Regina forced her hand into a fist until the weakness left her. She reached out and laid her palm over the terribly pale forehead of the woman chained up to the table. Yes, the body being confided here was a woman, and not just any woman. Her dark leather outfit had been covered with a layer of dust, arms crossed over her chest and shackled, the same done to her ankles. Her eyes were closed and she appeared not to be breathing. She had been steadily losing weight, her skin growing more fragile and paper-like. The bones in her hands were protruding more than before. All the color had been drained from her face, deep circles under her closed eyes and her cracked lips had become a purplish color. The room, being dry and cold had sped up the process somewhat, yet it was far worse than Regina had estimated. The only feature that seemed to refuse to give up was a thick mane of black-brown hair. Regina threaded her fingers through the long tresses, spreading them further about the surface of the table.

Allison Hyde had been desiccating here, outside of the reach of the known world, bound and weakened, for two years.

The expression on Regina’s face is conflicted, as it has been every time she had visited. The pain and longing mixing with shame and anger, guilt, regret. It’s painful to look at this face. Not just because of how disfigured it is becoming, the desiccation draining all the life out of her once dangerously beautiful features. The paper thin skin plane, bluish color beginning to overtake it giving it an almost translucent quality. It’s unnerving. however, worst of all is that this – looking so much alike her, so close and yet so far – is not her Emma. This is Hyde. A monster that took Emma away from her. The murderer that took control of her body and used Emma’s likeness to get away from Regina time and time again. She can’t stop blaming this creature for what she did. She newer will stop. And yet…

Somewhere below all of the rage and flippant immorality, below the mask and the serum-induced madness Emma had to still be locked away. She has to be. Through the worst of the chase Regina had never wavered in that belief. Thus, despite her disgust at the image of Hyde before her, the motion of her hand is gentle, the caressing fingers sliding through dark tresses soothing. More calming for herself rather than the unfeeling prisoner trapped here.

“It took six years to track down and capture you, Miss Hyde. You have made some mistakes along the way, but I had told you about them before.” Regina chuckled, then she grinds her teeth, the motion hardening her jaw and pulling tensed muscles framing her cheekbones. “That vampire heart might have allowed you to finish the final version of the serum, and yet it has not eliminated your dependence on the lunar cycle. How ironic it is that you are now being held captive in a former werewolf city.”

The tightness in her jaw grew along with the prickle behind her eyes, however the sting of pain reminded Regina of what she was supposed to be doing here. She took a deep breath and bend down to retrieve the items from her bag. One by one strange pieces were unearthed from their cases. Some fragile looking devices, the intricate work put in them and the care with which Regina placed them on the stone table all around Hyde’s head were telling of how much thought and time she put in them. Lines of wires were hooked up to each device in strict succession, then to receptacles at the end of one long set of wires. At the base of the table Regina placed a miniaturized battery, courtesy of Tesla. The final piece was taken out of the velvet socket of its housing with utmost care. A crystal. Half a sphere emitting soft light and faint buzz. The crystal connected with its base and the whole apparatus began to buzz with the same frequency. Regina took one end of the long main wire and sterilized the connectors. She placed them at the base of Hyde’s neck, at each of her temples. The needles slipped through without a problem with wide rubber caps sealing over them.

Regina sat back on the chair and took the opposite ends of the main connecting line. The same needles were looking at her, the tips shining in the light of the machine and vibrating in sync with the crystal.

“Here goes nothing,” she muttered placing the connectors on herself. She hissed as the sharp metal sank into her flesh. Reclining on the chair Regina gripped the on-switch and attempted to steady her breathing. “I sure hope Nikola was correct in his calculations. You never trusted that man, huh Emma?”

As soon as she flipped the switch, the world around her blazed in searing white. The pain shooting through her head was excruciating. She might have as well been hit by a bolt of lighting, which in all honesty was exactly what she was doing. The electricity surged through her overwhelming all her senses until there was nothing. No sound, no vision, no touch or smell. No sense of gravity. Just whiteness and blazing pain. And then, as abruptly as it began, it was gone too.

It might have been an eternity, light years and generations passing all around her. Or it might have been a miniscule part of a single second, but Regina had felt her senses returning. She could feel herself again. And she was standing. The momentary confusion had been replaced by understanding as soon as she opened her eyes. Regina was standing in the middle of her study on the second floor of No. 86B, Baker Street. The spacious room looked the same. All the clutter of papers on the desk, the mess of unsolved smaller experiments on the side tables. Maps of London and Great Britain on the walls. It all appeared safe, familiar, but with one crucial difference that made her skin crawl. Everything looked as it did nine years ago. Precisely the way it looked the day Emma had left and did not return.

She turns around sweeping her hand through free flowing hair. Regina is in her working attire, the simple dress, rolled up sleeves and her long black hair strewn around her shoulders. She only manages to register that this, like everything else around here, is how it was back then. How it should have been. But then there is a noise at her right, from the opened door to the staircase. And without knowing what she is going to see, being torn by the cynical rationalism of the impossibility of this and overwhelming, desperate hope, Regina knows, wills for it to be who she wished it would be. Her hair whips over her shoulder with the force of her turn, her whole body pushed into the motion.

Emma is standing there, the image of such familiarity Regina’s breath hitches painfully in her throat. She’s in her casual attire, a tweed pant suit sans the jacket, her vest tight around the pristine shirt, but no tie. Her sleeves are rolled past her elbows, far higher than what Regina does for herself. One time too many had Regina seen this look on her. With a lab coat instead of the jacket tending to the chemical apparatus, or out on the streets, a revolver in her hand and determined look on her face. This is more than she can stomach, the fear of this being an illusion, a pain-induced hallucination is too strong. And yet all she can do, all her body can do acting quicker than even her mind can process everything, is fly across the small space separating them and into Emma’s waiting arms. A part of her, the rational part, the part that had solved so many cases, that part is now telling her that this is improbable. That even if her and Nikola’s design had worked, nothing else of their plan may work. But another part, the part that missed Emma, craved this embrace so much it hurt to breathe on some days and nights, _that_ part is what takes over. Regina circles her arms around Emma’s neck and buries her face in the crook between her neck and shoulder. She feels those strong arms wrap around her middle, her body relishes in the way Emma pulls them flush together, she breathes in her scent. And it takes all her might not to completely lose her composure and break down weeping into Emma’s chest. Regina lets out a shuddering breath, her fingers tensing their grip on Emma’s shirt and curly locks of hair.

“ _Shhh_ , Regina,” Emma’s breath was tickling her neck and the way she rolled the ‘i’ of her name made her heart skip a beat. Though, the next words out of her mouth had resulted in that heart dropping into her stomach. “Why are you here? _How_ are you here? I’m–” Emma’s voice broke and she tightened her hold on her waist, it felt as if she wanted to let go, but couldn’t gather enough strength to. “I’m done, Regina. You did what you had to. I... We are not a danger anymore. The pain is gone. All there is left is to drift in this weightlessness. You need to leave us here.”

Frowning Regina pushed herself back from the heaven that was being tucked under the blonde’s chin. She leaned back until she could see Emma’s face. It was a mirror of her’s. Torn with warring emotions, yet resigned. The fight had been beaten out of Emma Swan and Regina felt her eyes go wide with disbelief. She would have never thought there would ever be a day when Emma, the Emma she knew and loved, would give up. There was something broken about her appearance, subdued. She had been worn down to the bone. The whole of Emma’s presence wailed of just how endlessly tired she was.

“I came to tell you that I wasn’t going to give up on you,” murmured Regina, her frown solemn, eyes betraying how taken aback she was by this change. “I have been trying to find a way to cure you. To reverse the effects of the serum.”

“That is impossible. It’s too late, we had made it permanent. There’s no separating us anymore.” Emma chuckled mirthlessly, throwing her head back. “At least I won’t ever be alone anymore. When I was a kid I had an imaginary friend. After my parents… well, I had another playmate besides my cousin. And now I share one ugly, desiccated carcase with one. Oh, the irony!”

“Emma…” Regina looked up catching her gaze. The light in those once vibrant green eyes had been extinguished, and that hurt more than Regina was ready for. She steeled her face, put a hundred foot wall around her bleeding heart. “I _am_ going to find the answer. I _will_ get you back! Whatever Hyde did to you, it _has_ to be reversible! And once I have figured out a way, I’ll erase her. She will gone and you can take control of you life again, Emma!”

“I’d love to see you try, Detective.”

The mocking voice came from her right and Regina whirled around to see a familiar figure leaning on the door frame with one of her feet put up against it. Allison Hyde was the same as she had remembered her. Smug, sharp and deadly. Her black clothes clung to her like the taint of darkness, the fear of the night manifested. Hyde was playing with a long, thin knife in her hands, almost surgical in its appearance. Regina put herself in-between Emma and Hyde on instinct, although she couldn't help but notice how disinterested Emma seemed to be in this exchange. She was staring into the distance while keeping one of her hands on Regina’s hip and that was apparently enough for her.

“This is a neat trick, I give you that,” continued Hyde ignoring the way Regina shifted into a protective posture. “Some kind of electrical manipulation. Well, brains do work on electrical impulses. I commend your ingenuity, Detective. Though, perhaps, it wasn’t just your dance. Regardless, it’s all so very futile,” she shook her head sending Regina a patronizing grin. “you can not do what you claim to. You can’t separate us, erase us. You can’t even kill us. All you managed to achieve was weakening my response with that Mongolian toxin – bravo, by the way! – and trap us in this pathetic little prison of yours. But no matter, it’s all useless, I assure you. In some sixty years you are going to die and without you to administer the drug we will regain our strength. Someone else could even find this place and crack its secrets. Either way we’ll be free, _I_ will be free. And then the golden age will commence.”

Regina listened to Hyde’s declaration without so much as a filch. She didn’t interrupt, in fact her posture had relaxed from conflict ready to simply cautious. And when Allison finished with her speech she smiled. Regina smiled a sweet, sarcastic smile.

“Well, this all would be true _if_ ,” her smile widened, “Emma hadn’t given me her first dose of the serum.”

Hyde tilted her head and then, she let out a bark of genuine laughter. Emma flinched behind her at the rough sound, her free hand shot up to rub at her neck. When she spoke her voice was sad, defeated. “Regina, that version of the serum had failed. There were no changes in your blood, we tested it all. You were immune. That’s why I came up with a new formula and tested it on myself. I’m sorry, but that serum was nothing. Please, Regina. you have to try to move on. Live your–”

“Not another word,” interrupted Regina eyeing Emma over her shoulder. Emma’s shoulders hunched and she nodded miserably, and – God! – she looked so very tired. Regina glanced between the two of them and took a step back. “Emma, you are a brilliant scientist, one of the most gifted chemists I have met. But you made a mistake. _We_ have made a mistake.” She raised her hands and began to unbutton her blouse. “The serum _worked_. It just needed a proper jump start.”

She finished unbuttoning the shirt up to her corset and pulled the garment apart. The revealed expanse of olive-toned skin showed off the curve of her throat and just how magnificently this corset pushed up her cleavage. Her skin was perfect, smooth and unblemished, with one glaring exception. At the center of her chest, just slightly to the left, right above the line of her decollete was a new scar. An unmistakable round mark of a bullet. The location and size of the healed up wound couldn’t fool anyone in this ephemeral room. This had been a fatal wound, this shot had to have killed Regina.

And yet she was standing there grinning at them with unmasked superiority.

“Well, I’ll be damned,“ grunted Hyde not hiding how impressed she was.

“Emma, the serum worked just like you had intended. It bonded with my system kicking it into a new level of cellular regeneration. Longevity, immunity to illness, rapid healing. Everything we have theorized. All I had to do for it to activate properly was to die.”

Emma was looking at her like a mirage, which she supposes she was in a way. And maybe, Regina couldn't be sure, but she thought that there was a small ember of the same fire beginning to bloom deep in those green eyes. She shifted her gaze towards Hyde, who was apprehensive, but still not all that worried, it seemed.

Regina seethed, her composure cracking at the seams. “I will get rid of you! No matter how long it takes, no matter what I have to do! I will make a cure and exercise you from Emma’s body! You may think it’s impossible, but I have all the time in the world now.”

Regina threw her a glare, then her eyes were on Emma. She stepped right up to her, her hand coming up to cup her cheek, thumb brushing the warm skin of her cheekbone. Their eyes were locked and Hyde and everything else melted away. There was no hope in Emma’s eyes, only exhaustion, the endless weight of all that has happened, but there was also longing, the same softness Regina had been used to. No matter what their love was shining through all the hardship in-between.

“I’m sorry, dear,” murmured she, “I will have to leave you here again. I’m sorry about the toxin. I’m sorry about everything.”

“It’s alright. I have gotten used to this, really. It’s a way for them to be safe from us.” Emma exhaled heavily leaning into the palm on her cheek. Her eyes closed for a moment and when they opened the emeralds were gleaming so much alike the first time she had confessed her feelings to Regina, such a long time ago. “I’m glad I was able to give you what I wanted. I guess, the grand plan of progressing the humanity with the serum is a bust, but I have done it by you. I’ve given you your best chance. No matter what, you can be happy, even without me. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you, Regina.”

Regina gulped at the implication of what Emma was saying. Her heart had been torn already, and no matter how high and thick the walls around it were… The hopelessness of Emma’s voice tore through them all the same.

Her lips part and it hurt to contain the sob that wanted to break free from her throat. Regina misdeed the moment when their bodies became pressed together, their faces moved to hover mere inches apart. She whispered a final heartfelt “I’m sorry,” against Emma’s mouth. Not just for her losing hope. Not just for having to use the toxin on her. But for all the hardship they had to endure. For everything. Their lips met in the a kiss, bittersweet and taunting. And at the same time everything grew out of focus. Blinding white light pushed Regina back towards reality. The connection dissolved leaving a tingling sensation on her lips. Regina opened her eyes and blinked at the secret Wulvern cavern.

They have not said ‘ _I love you_ ’.

They have not said ‘ _Goodbye_ ’.

No this time.

 

 


	4. Wrath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter is really late, but what can I say? Better late than never? In any case, this one is very much a Regina-centric one so enjoy getting to know what she had been up to since that last one. More to come, hopefully soon! Enjoy and let me know what you thought!

_37th floor of the Apfelbaum Inc. building, Manhattan, New York.  
_ _19th of June, 1991._

The light emanating from rows of halogen bulbs was too sharp. It bore into her eyes even through closed eyelids. Regina grumbled and flung her arms around her head. It didn't help. The light was like acid seeping through and making her already throbbing head hurt more.

A deep, body-shuddering groan rumbled from underneath the protective cover of arms. Regina didn't want to move. She didn't want to get up from her position hunched in a swivel chair and folded onto the desk. The metal surface of the laboratory table was cool against her cheek. If not for the light she could have perhaps drifted off. Even the strain in her ankles, the heels of her pointy shoes scratching at the concrete floor at an odd angle, however worse it could get overtime would have been a good enough incentive to move. If only the lights were not there. Here.

Her weakened by lack of sleep and too much self-medication mind was refusing to put complex sentences together.

What Regina really didn't want to think about was the results of her previous experiment. Another failure. There had been a lot of those over the last hundred and some years. The cultures of her latest attempt had finished their cultivation in the incubator to her left about 3 or 4 hours ago. Or was it more than that? She had added the data to the formula and watched her supercomputer run simulation after simulation until her eyes drooped and the headache forced her to slump forward onto the desk. The constant stream of numbers and equations, blinking of the progress bars only served to tire and irritate her.

The antique clock standing at the far wall, a dark shadow against stark whiteness of the laboratory's walls, chimed the turn of an hour. Regina remained slumped over the desk. It might have been four in the morning for all she cared. She found herself having trouble keeping a firm hold on passage of time over the last few years. Years and decades were easy, but her strict schedule made the days blur together. Regina couldn't remember when was the last time she took a day off. No, there was that vacation in Tuscany seven years ago. Two weeks of climbing the walls from boredom.

Her head hurt. The throbbing pulses at her temples were burrowing deeper and deeper into her skull.

The beeping of the console made her flinch as if it was a gong of a siren instead of gentle chime. Groaning and cracking her neck Regina straightened up in her chair. She ran a hand through her shoulder length hair,messed tresses still not up to her standards, but at least they were no longer in her face. She reached up with her arms, curving her spine and yawning. The stretch brought warmth spreading through her muscles. After one long minute she slumped down in her chair, let out a breath. Several seconds ticked by and Regina sat properly. Her face grew focused, spine betrayed hidden tension.

“Alright then, let's see what we got,” she murmured, then addressed the room as a whole. “Sydney, show me the results. I want a full play by play.”

The loudspeakers situated all around the lab – on the tables, the ceiling, integrated into sparse furniture and with a ready light bulb blinking next to some – released a short burst of static. Then a smooth baritone floated out of them.

“As you wish, Madam Mills.” The intonation of the voice were calm and at times playful, yet it did also dip down into a synthetic monotone occasionally. “Integrating the latest data had improved the formula by 3%. Taking into account the accumulated changes I have run 5 separate simulations. Based off of the results introducing the anti-agents into both samples of blood, yours and Dr Swan respectfully, would translate to possible blood infection and several organ failures. Improvements in the mutagen are projected to result in a coma, as had been shown by last 48 simulations. I am afraid, the conclusion stands, ma'am. The mutations introduced into yours and Dr Swan bodies by the serum are irreversible. Any attempt at purging the resulted helix would either cause extensive but temporary damage or induce a comatose state of unpredictable length.”

Sydney remained silent for a long moment, during which Regina sat there motionless staring off into space. “I could run the numbers again. However, as I have informed you before, a solution does not seem to exist, ma’am.”

Regina stared at the dynamic that went silent. Her headache wasn't going away. Listening to Sydney tell her again how she was wasting time looking for something that could well be impossible was… She couldn't say what it was for all she tried. For a century she had only been shown the futility of her task. Yet she could not give up. How could she?

As her eyes started moving around the lab, sterile and pristine surfaces, perfectly maintained order, the expression in them changed. The apathetic, stunned look washed off if her face like water, the fire igniting deep inside the dark chocolate rushing to the forefront. Her features contorted in disgust and grew harder. The order and detachment of the lab felt like a personal offense. Regina had failed. _Again!_

The last shreds of hope had been dissolved a while ago, she couldn't even imagine when. Truthfully, Regina had not even realized until this moment. She wasn't surprised by another failure. She had _expected_ it! Deep down she knew this quest had proven to be over, yet she refused to give up. For decades she had beaten her head against this wall. And it all had been useless.

She wasn't going to save her. She never could.

A sob had almost escaped her mouth, but it got stuck in her throat along with a lump the size of an apple. She choked it down, kept her composure with the last of her strength, yet her iron mask was cracking at the seams. Regina rose from the chair, her hands closing around the edge of the desk in a white-knuckled grip.

It was over.

Emma was going to stay that way, trapped in the mind of that remorseless killer. Not having any control over her body. And Regina’s fate was going to be to to remain her guardian, for the sake of the world and the innocents Hyde had preyed on. Only this time she'll be a warden, a guard dog holding the keys to Emma's prison. Not the doctor searching for a cure, not a lover seeking for a way to reunite. No, all that would be left for them was going to be an eternity apart.

Rush of deja vu had washed over her. Regina felt like Emma had been wrenched out of her grasp for the second time. So very reminiscent of the afternoon when all the evidence formed a clear picture. A conclusion Regina could not ignore no matter how hard she wanted to. She had lost Emma that day. She had lost Emma three weeks before that, when the blonde took her new serum and became something else. Someone else. And now, she had lost her all over again.

Though the brutal and unwavering truth was that this wasn’t really the second time. For someone to lose something that something needed to be first gained back. Regina had never gotten Emma back. Not truly. The glimpses into their shared consciousness were like a cruel reminder of what could have been. Emma’s unsteady reactions ranging from being ecstatic and supportive about Regina’s quest to utterly apathetic detachment. and as much as the former lifted Regina’s spirits, so did the latter break her heart. She could not handle seeing Emma so broken, so hopeless.

Emma went from one extreme to the other over the years, but one thing remained constant in that shared space of theirs. The sneers from Hyde. The condescension. Hyde’s jabs and insults were directed masterfully to rattle Regina like this was the only entertainment that was allotted to her. Overtime it became a challenge for Regina to give back as good as she received. The web of oneupmanship had became familiar, even comforting after another failure. Despite how having to rely on comfort from the person who hijacked Emma’s body left a sour taste in her mouth. Although Regina had to give her credit, Allison was good company for Emma when she wanted. Whenever Emma slumped into another spiral of self-deprecation, instead of as per usual attempting to get under Regina's skin she would engage both of them in a conversation. Critique something from Regina’s memory of the current affairs that she would bring with her mind. Poke and prod at Emma until the blonde had no choice but to engage herself. More often than one would think, that strategy worked.

Be that as it was, the reality was that Regina never had a chance. Emma and Allison were too ingrained together, inseparable. They were right about that. The serum had been an ultimate expression of their scientific genius, immutable no matter what. And it took a hundred years to prove. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, irreversibly, this had been _it_ for Regina. The end of the road.

The pristine lab was laughing at her in all of its perfected, orderly glory. It was cackling so loud, the white, empty walls shook and blurred in her vision. The pain in her skull – piercing, her brain rattled inside the bone box. She needed to stop it. She needed release.

She needed to scream.

Her hands were in motion before Regina could register the move. With a strangled hiss through her bared teeth Regina swiped at the desk sending small items flying to the floor. It wasn’t enough. The rising ball of white hot rage settled deep in her stomach, like a cupful of melted led. It boiled and bubbled sending searing air up to her chest and face, the anger and desperation coming along for the ride. Regina’s mind reflectively noticed how her skin flushed, her face contorted in an unrecognizable mask of utter fury. Her whole body was overwhelmed with bitter energy. So much of it that she felt like she could move mountains, yet it was plain that she couldn’t. The kind of stupid, reckless drive that send Parisians changing the barricades and storming the Bastille. The kind that made unarmed peasants throw themselves on the pikes of the King's guard, thinking themselves invincible.

But this time she really was invincible, outside of harm's way. No bullet or knife or spear could hurt Regina, not anymore. No sickness, no weather, no hunger. She could go up against a mob of basilisks and come up on top, she _had_.

Yet, the mountain remained unflinching. Not only the problem had been immovable, ephemeral, slipping through her fingers at every opportunity. It also did not care. The mountain could not care less about the small human at its feet, even if the human wasn’t mortal but quite the opposite. She was no more than a speck of dust to the universe, one tiny atom among billions.

And the universe never gave a shit about the atom’s feelings and hopes.

Regina grabbed the monitor showing her the red letters she didn’t want to see. She spun around using her movement to add force and threw the monitor into the wall. It shattered and send sparks flying on impact. It was not enough. Regina gripped the edges of the desk and flipped it. The shattering of glass and electronics flooded the lab with crashing sound, but higher and louder was her scream. Uncaring for her own safety Regina unloaded her rage against all and any items she could reach. The chair was hit against another desk, then thrown into the shelves and glass cabinets with rows and rows of samples.

Like a hurricane she rushed around the lab flinging anything that was there. White walls stopped being white. Blotches of different colors painted them in minutes, acidic holes began forming along the lines and uneven edges of the splatters. Regina grabbed a heavier microscope and bashed the computer towers that stood to the side with its heavy base. Once both were reduced to scraps of metal and broken plastic, she moved on to the last table standing. The one with hazardous materials. She flung beakers and flasks alike only screaming louder when spilled over substances began to burn through her flesh and clothes. Her cries, the shaking of her body and snarl on her unrecognizable face was the embodiment of pure agony. She was beyond the point of calming, a wild Goddess of Wrath unleashed on the world to grind it down to ashes.

The chemicals she had been throwing left and right ignited on impact with one of the tables. An expensive machine standing on the table had gotten scorched by the hissing flames and acids. It crumbled and exploded in a shower of broken electronics.

Regina continued her assault.

The flames changed colors as she threw more reagents into them, her expression in the dancing light primal. The fire rose and thin wisps of smoke rose along with it until something different hissed up on the ceiling.

“ _Kh-sh-shshhhh!”_

The sprinklers of the fire suppression system came to life dousing everything in a shower of running water. The extinguishing formula was perfectly harmless to humans, yet deadly to the roaring fires regardless of their chemical composition. The orange, green and yellow tongues began to die out immediately. Regina on the other hand found herself being soaked in water from the top of her head to the tips of her heels. She stared at the ruin she had brought, the cool water making her skin prickle. Her hair slicked to her head, the long locks clung to the sides of her face. Her makeup was being washed off of her face, the blouse she was wearing soaked through and through. The same was happening to her skirt and stockings, even the expensive leather of her heels could not escape its fate. The burned holes in her outfit, thanks to the spilled acids and reagents made her look like she had been in a fire, yet her flesh had already been healed. The rough woulds, eaten off slices of flesh to the one had regenerated in a few seconds closing the wound without a trace. Regina was left standing in the middle of destroyed lab, wet as a drowned rat and with her boiling rage slowly evaporating. She had expected to be surrounded by a cloud of steam coming off of her skin, however all that was there was the sound of the sprinklers and the steady drip of water onto the floor.

One solitary survivor of a all the loudspeakers let out a cough laced with both sincerity and irony, “If you wanted to destroy my mainframe as well, Madam, I would like to remind you that it is located on the 24th floor.”

Regina could not help it. Her body shook under the spray and the laughter burst out of her. She tilted her head up into the falling drops, closed her eyes and let it all out. The laughter was pulling something out the deepest part of her, harsh, open, deprecating and free. not to mention quite a bit hysterical. The statement made by her faithful companion over so many decades was the straw that broke her out of her seething rage and threw her in the other extreme.

This was the last kink in Sydney’s programming. A flaw neither she nor Nikola could fix. The artificial intelligence Sydney was gifted with had complete lack of self-preservation. Sydney was brilliant, always eager to learn, be it technical information of his tireless research into human psyche. He was quick with his tongue, snarky at times, and loyal to the last. Up to the point of subtly offering his own nonfunctionality to cheer his Mistress up. The absurdity of this statement wasn't lost on Regina, not at all. But neither was her current predicament. Being washed down by the fire suppression shower, having just realized the futility of the mission she had spent a century and uncounted treasures pursuing and laughing at the one and only AI in the world, all with his unique plays on words.

Her heels slipped on the wet floor and Regina jerked losing her balance. She swayed and forward ripping a hole in her stockings and bruising her knees. She groaned through the giggles and reached back to rip the expensive shoes off her feet. The fate of the heels was the same as had befallen everything else – to be joined in the pile on the floor after their short flight across the room. Regina slumped down on her hunches and hugged her middle. Her giggles dwindled down until one of them had been replaced by desperate heave for air and strangled sob. The liquid running down her face had not been all from the sprinkles. Regina grip on her sides became tighter she bend down the middle, the weaker now laughter mixing together with the sobbing finally given free reign.

She could not tell how long she had sat there on the floor crying her heart out. For all the years she spent hoping. For all the wishes she had made and all plans that were never meant to be. Regina let grief take over, she pushed all the regret and hurt through her. The only way to let go of all of this was to embrace the truth, not to repress it. So she let it all consume her for as long as was needed. Until the tears stopped and the water run out in the tanks above. Until her voice went hoarse with crying and her stomach hurt. Then she just sat there in silence, alone in a ruined lab listening to the tiny drips echoing off the walls.

She let everything settle. Given her heart all the time it needed to let her mind take the reigns again so that she could formulate a plan. But not the same as before. She needed to do… something different. Something that will leave her empty and broken, but that she had to do. Something she had been thinking about for a long time, but had not had the strength to accept as the only option.

After what seemed like an eternity Regina moved. She shakily got to her feet and padded towards the elevator. Her feet were making splashing noises against the wet floor. Once next to the panel Regina pushed the button and waited.

“Sydney,” her voice came out rough, the pain in her throat – a reminder of what had happened, “would you arrange for cleaning crew to deal with this mess? The same NDA’s as usual. I will need to change. No. I... I suppose, I will need some time to recuperate. In the mean time I'll need you to start on synthesizing the solution. B-46/C. I expect a fully formed vial ready for testing in no longer than 24 hours.”

“Will do, ma’am,” rang the smooth voice as she entered the elevator. “However, I feel it would be necessary to remind you, considering your emotional status, that in all simulations the use of B46/C resulted in comatose state for the patient–”

“Sydney!” Regina’s interruption rang inside the metal box going up. “I know full well what it does. That would be the point. I don’t have any other choice. Not anymore.”

There was a minute of tense silence as the lift climbed up. Then the AI spoke up in a somber voice, “Understood. Shall I prep Dr Swan for your arrival? The usual procedures will take up to 72 hours. The cryogenic chamber and security shield of sublevel 15 are showing green across the board and–”

“Sydney,” Regina interrupted again, though this time her voice was gentle and tired. “I trust you with following the protocols. I… Right now, I would like to go up and take a bath. It–” she let out a sigh, “It's going to be a hard couple of days.”

“As you wish, Madam. I shall inform the guards and engage privacy mode for the penthouse.”

The steady hum of the lift reminded Regina of just how exhausted this outburst had made her. She supposed, it wasn’t over. She would have to stay sharp to conduct the procedure. Another 72 hours. Then, after it all would be done, then she could begin to grief.

Regina swallowed taking in the depth and weight of her decision. Her mind floated down, all the way through steel and concrete, down 77 stories and 15 sublevels, to the secured and only accessible to her vault. The vault and cryogenic chamber within, where one desiccated body was being kept right that moment. As the elevator rose higher to her private penthouse and increased the distance between Regina and the vault beneath, she thought about what she would have to do in three days. What it would take and what it would mean for her.

In three days she was going to put Emma and Allison to sleep. A dreamless sleep where neither one of them could hurt anyone, where they could not hurt each other or had to dwell on what they had done.

Regina was going to put Emma under. Permanently.

 


	5. Envy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Two chapters left! I think I have found my second breath. Writing this was a breeze! Also, if you need a visual representation of this Regina in that time period, think Lana's role as Isabella Cordova on Chase. Or you can look it up on YT or something. I was inspired by that performance. Enjoy the read!

_Public Garden, Downtown, Boston.  
_ _21th of May, 1999._

The breeze gently ruffled the ends of her shoulder-length, perfectly coiffed hair. It tickled her neck and was spreading the lighter strands about her shoulders. The evening coming on was peaceful, another warm day of spring teasing the coming summertime. Regina looked over the flora of the park to the Boston skyline illuminated in bright colors of the setting sun. Just another day. Another day in the endless string of days, months, years. One more grain of sand to add to the overflowing hourglass of her life. Regina closed her eyes enjoying the feeling of the sun on her skin, the touch of the warm breeze. Sitting here on a park bench she was no different than any of these people. Or so it would seem from the sidelines.

Regina wasn’t looking her age, nor did her appearance betray her status. Yes, she was dressed as an extremely wealthy person. Though, darker tones of her wardrobe were somewhat telling. Black jacket and high-waisted pencil skirt, high heels of the same color, deep royal blue blouse and golden jewelry. Her makeup was tastefully plain, yet haunting just the same.

Maybe it was a foolish thought. She could never look or sound like any of them. Regina had been through too much, she had let herself be put through the crucible of history. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. It was indeed a cruel twist of irony that she, the woman who once had been called the Great Detective, the one who had inspired countless iterations of a fictional character of the same ilk, would be on the other side of the proverbial line in the sand.

How the times had changed! Before taking the serum Regina knew exactly what her life was supposed to be. She knew the stakes and was consumed by her passion for deductive method. Uncovering puzzles, be they conducted by criminals, murderers and thieves, or concocted by supernatural means, the secrets of the abnormal underbelly of the known world – that was her calling. Besides, the world of 1800s was so much simpler than what it had become. Smaller, more straightforward, black and white in a large part. And then she had taken the serum. Then Emma had changed. There was the chase through England and better half of Europe. Then there was her own death and rebirth. And over a century of obsessive work on a problem that never had a solution.

In that time Regina had learned how it all worked. She had learned about the politics, about the balance of power. She understood human nature better than most. The whole of history was unfolding before her eyes. The World Wars and the fall of the Soviet Union, the barreling forward industrial revolution, advances in all areas, great humanitarian efforts that meant nothing in the end. Good people, bad people, no-exactly-people-at-all. She had met and seen all kinds of incredible things. And in all her time one truth had been made explicitly plain to her: there could not be any balance or justice in the world for those who had no power to influence it. And thus, as the one who had a unique perspective on, well, everything, she had to take it all in her own hands. It wasn’t easy, she had to be ruthless at times, but her stance had worked. She managed to create something that would last, something that made her long life have meaning. Even…

Even after her foolish quest had ended leaving a hollow abyss in her heart.

The cell phone in her purse rang. With a apprehensive roll of her neck Regina opened her eyes and fished the a bit too bulky to her liking device out of her purse. Absentmindedly, she put another item on her to-do list – send a memo to R&D. That Chicago subsidiary of Apfelbaum Inc. (Moto… something, she could not remember) was developing a slimmer version of a cellular device, perhaps they had some prototypes in decent condition. Filing that idea for later Regina accepted the call and reclined back on her bench.

“Yes, Sydney, what is it? I didn’t want to be disturbed at this hour.”

“My apologies, Madam,” sounded the familiar baritone, “but we have a situation. I am currently in a conference call with Jefferson and he reports that the representative of the acilophod population is being… difficult.”

“Define difficult.” replied Regina looking at the sunset.

“Our investigation had shown that not only have they refused to pay the usual fees, but recent raids on Atlantic ports had been perpetrated by their members. The most recent one along the Delaware river is projected to cost 4 million dollars in damages. That excluding the secrecy control and maintaining the anti-abnormal propaganda net.”

“Connect me to the call,” ordered Regina unflinching.

The static on the other end picked up, then she heard some quickly muffled screams and sounds of something hard hitting wet surface. There were some new yelps and whimpers before the line got cleared and Jefferson’s voice cut through.

“Madam Mills, sorry for the noise, some of the associates of this amphibian scum were not as forthcoming as he was. I put you on loudspeaker though, if you don’t mind. My hands are kinda, hah, unclean at the moment.”

“I see,” said Regina in a steely voice and she could almost feel the shudders that rippled through the captives at the sound of her voice, even though she could not see them. “I do appreciate your professionalism, dear. Have you extracted all you could out of them? I would prefer this leak to be handled swiftly.”

“Yes, ma’am, I have gathered all we nee–” his steady voice was interrupted by a howl of desperate _‘Mercy!’_ and another hard hit. The muffled whimpers were not far behind.

“Sorry about that, too. This criminal element really needs to learn some manners. What should I do with ‘em now?”

Regina blinked at the bright ray of slowly setting sun, her head was tilted to the side. “Acilophods… Hmm... Burn them. All of them.”

“Yes, ma’am. Would that be all?”

“That would be all,” confirmed Regina, then she let her detached, almost bored expression slip a bit, “Oh, and Jefferson? I assume you and Alicia are going to make an appearance at the party next week. We do need to catch up.”

“Absolutely, Your Majesty. We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Well, until then.” Regina smiled just a bit more as she hung up.

Her organization was working as a well oiled machine. And while dealing with some radical elements within supernatural communities was an unfortunate side-effect of her business, and an occasional reminder of the brutal reality outside of her iron grip, the lives, whole reservations of creatures she had guaranteed safe and prosperous existence… That was worth it.

Regina took a deep breath and put the phone away. This was supposed to be a quiet time for herself, uninterrupted by the ugly side of her business. No rest for the wicked, huh? She let her gaze wander along the pathways and walks of the park. The people were walking further away from her, across the patch of nicely trimmed grass. She had chosen this spot for that reason, of course. A modicum of privacy right out in the open, just far enough not to be overheard and grazing the periphery of the park’s patrons to go unnoticed. She liked it this way. It felt like life swam past her and she sat up on the shore and was no more than an observer.

She watched the pairs walking down the pathways. Friends and lovers. Young couples. Those so lost in their blooming infatuation they seemed to be untouchable to the rest of the world. One such couple was hiding from onlookers on the bench behind some quite high bushes. They were not making a great deal of effort, though. Hiding. Regina could make out their intertwined form from her position. It was indeed hard to distinguish where one boy ended and the other began. They were seated even further away from the populated areas than Regina was, so their passionate make out session was being entirely ignored. The cover of bushes helped, too.

Her eyes moved on. A group of people was seated further up the walkway. On the corner where several stone tablets were placed. Some were engrossed in games of chess, elderly men and women and very young enthusiasts. Regina observed their interaction for a few minutes. She took in the micro-expressions, the clothes and body language. She compared and combined. Some of those were families. Grandparents with their grandchildren. Old friends. People connected by more than blood, but mutual respect and affection. She sighed. That was something she would never be able to experienced. Regina had lived two lifetimes already and, she was sure, that would not be the end of it. But she never would grow old. She never could have _that_.

Wrenching her eyes away Regina changed her position crossing her legs and shifting her torso. She was presented with another heartwarming picture. Two mothers pushing strollers along the path and conversing animatedly between themselves. They were laughing and brushing shoulders – a pair of very close friends. Regina could not tell if this relationship was recent or if these women had been friends all their lives. A bond between them was unmistakable, yet there was something Regina could not pinpoint. Perhaps, they had hit it off immediately and became, what was it that kids these days called it? BFFs? Or maybe they had grown up side by side, becoming integral parts of each other’s lives. Regina didn’t have enough time to dwell on a conundrum that left her deductive mind puzzled. A unsettling tiny wail shook her out of her peaceful contemplation. The mothers had stopped and one of them was fussing with the stroller. She bend low over it and was whispering something. The expression on her face struck Regina. It was so clear and open, so full of undiluted adoration. The woman reached into the stroller and pulled her baby out of it and into her arms. The little bundle was so vulnerable and small in her hold, yet the image of her holding the baby looked like the safest place for it in the whole world. Both women bend over the whimpering child and cooed to it. The mother was holding the baby close swaying a little and lightly stroked its head. Regina watched in bewilderment as the tiny bundle seemed to calm down and even let out a few little giggles.

And there it was! The same feeling in her chest. The feeling she started to get recently while watching people interact. The one that closed over her heart and made her breathing unsteady. She looked on as the baby was put back into the stroller after a session of prolonged cuddling and the mothers had continued on their way. Once they had passed the bench she was sitting on, both women smiled and Regina could not help but return the smile. Even after they had left the park completely she sat there staring after them.

She could not get the image of that young mother holding her child out of her head. The way her face lit up, was completely transformed the moment she held that fragile little life… It was uncanny. no matter how many miracles and indescribably wonders Regina had seen in her long life, this one was the most incredible.

The longing in her chest was coupled with something much worse. She knew what it was. Knew for a while now. It was the same feeling she had after once personally inspecting new facilities of one of her sanctuaries. It was a feeling she didn’t think herself capable of. Regina had always been a realist. Logic and rational approach had made her who she was in many ways. She knew better than most what risks family and procreation held. The impossibility of it was clear to her, especially with her line of work. With all she was and all she had been through. Furthermore, she could feel the bile rising in her throat at the thought of meeting someone for _that_ purpose… Regina sucked a breath as she caught herself falling down the same rabbit hole again. She had been debating this issue with herself for some time now. And despite all the rational arguments against the idea she kept coming back to it like some kind of obsession.

But before her brows knitted and she irritably stormed out of the park like she had done so many times already, her instincts kicked in. Her hand flew up in one trained move reacting to the smallest flicker on the periphery of her vision. She jerked and straightened. Her hands had closed around a football. The very one that had been heading at her and its trajectory had been promising to hit her squarely in the face. She huffed and turned the ball around, then lowered it considerably so as to not obscure her vision. A boy was running towards her. Eight, maybe nine years old, he was dressed in shorts and a tee, his sneakers covered in grass stains. His light hair was sticking in odd ways and his face was full of exhilaration joy.

“My ball!” exclaimed the boy coming to an abrupt halt next to her bench.

Regina looked down at her hands still clutching the football. She glanced up at the boy who seemed at a loss at what to do. He was breathless and with a healthy blush on his cheeks. His eyes were really blue, surprisingly so. Regina shook herself in time for another voice to reach them.

“Owen!”

A middle-aged man was jogging up to them. His longer than usual hair bounced as he ran and by the much unsteadier breath than that of the boy, this man wasn’t into sports all that much. He stopped and bent down gripping his knees to catch a breath. The boy swung his head from the man and back to Regina with such speed his curly locks stood up even more.

“Daddy, this lady has my ball!” he observed in a way that kids do, stating the obvious.

“Owen,” rasped the man straightening. “What have I told you about manners?”

“To mind mine,” the child parroted what seemed like an annoyingly recurring lesson. Then his eyes went wide in apprehension and a deep blush spread across his face. He ducked his head glancing at Regina shyly. His next mutterings were made more adorable by such display.

“Um, sorry I kicked the ball your way.” Owen looked at his father for guidance and after an encouraging nod he went on, “Could I have my ball back? Please.”

“Well, of course you can, little gentleman,” Regina smiled warmly at the boy handing him the football.

She had been taken aback by the situation at first, a feat which was not easy to achieve, but seeing the boy frankly quite endearing antics made warmth spread in her chest all on its own. This feeling was akin to those longing, envious bursts she had been experiencing and still it was different. More honest. Less selfish. Regina found herself affected by the boy. He represented something she was realizing she desperately wanted, needed.

Owen grabbed the ball and made to run off, but he was stopped by his fathers arms and a stern look. Catching himself Owen turned and gifted Regina with the most blinding smile she ever saw. “Thanks lady for catching my ball! You're the best! Can I go play now?”

The last sentence was directed to his father and he nodded. Though, the man only managed to call after him as the boy sprinted away, “Be careful with those kicks now!”

Then he turned towards Regina with an apologetic look in his eyes. “I'm really sorry about Owen. The kid doesn't know his own strength,” he outstretched an arm to her, “My name's Kurt. I suppose, you have already met my son Owen.”

“Regina,” she supplied grasping the man's hand in a firm handshake. “It's quite alright. Children need to be allowed to have their fun and freedom. Isn't it the best part about childhood?”

She had surprised herself at how easy it was to talk to a complete stranger, and about children no less! But Kurt simply smiled his understanding. He seemed eager to continue talking, however his head was magnetically drawn to the side and the sight of his son kicking the ball dangerously close to the chess players made him flinch.

“Sorry to cut this meeting short, but I can sense Owen getting in trouble again. You’re a regular at this park, right?” Kurt gave her a quizzical look backing away slowly, “I could swear I have seen you around. Looking for a place to spend with your kids? I sure can recommend this one!”

Regina bristled, a faint flush tinged her cheekbones. “No, I don’t… I don’t have any… Children,” she felt forced to clarify, and how in seven hells this question managed to fluster her? _Her!_ She had been negotiating with berserking tribes and starving vampires, had made entire clans of warring abnormals quiver in fear, there was nothing that could leave her unprepared, and yet this question had. It had been some kind of an innate reaction she could not completely fathom, an unconscious yearning. And that feeling rising from whatever depths of her soul had complete control over her body.

Kurt grinned at her, an unnatural understanding glinting in his eyes. “It’s a shame. You’d make an incredible mother someday. Trust me, I can tell. I guess, we’ll see you around, then. I’m sure Owen would love to show you some of his moves sometime!”

“I would love to see…” Regina mumbled under her breath, but Kurt was already jogging towards his son, his arm raised in a parting wave.

She stood there, mesmerized. Kurt’s words echoed in her ears. A striking sense of deja vu washed over Regina. She could almost see – no not almost, she could bloody well see it! – a room in No. 86B, Baker Street what seemed like a thousand years ago! It had been different then. Less chaotic and more showing an illusion of decorum. It was several other rooms that served as makeshift labs and housed her experiments on fingerprinting and deciphering of scents. In this drawing room Regina welcomed guests, and one such guest was there. Her oldest friend. One she had been engaged to marry, but… That did not happen. Still, he remained her closest confidant and close friend until the end. Regina could see the same kind of sparkle in Daniel Stableton’s eyes as she had just seen in Kurt’s. His words rang in her ears louder than the bells of Notre Dame.

“ _You would make a wonderful mother, dear. Don’t let the mistakes of her parents dictate your own choices. Yes, I know, you are dedicated to your work, but I’m simply saying you should not let it consume your life. You deserve some of that light, Regina. Trust me.”_

She could see as he put down the glass and rose from the chair she had been occupying. The officer’s uniform suited him best. He was so full of life, energetic, brimming with passion. And the next words out of his mouth in this vision had made Regina’s heart clench in a hard pang of foreboding and bittersweet irony. And it didn’t matter that it had been over a century since those words had been said. The teasing smile on his face as she turned on his way out was far too much.

“ _Oh, I have remembered, you mentioned about a flatmate the other day, my dear? Well, I have just the right candidate for you. Emma Swan. Pardon me, Doctor Emma Swan. She was attached to my Regiment in Afghanistan. Phenomenal surgeon, you should have seen her! Unfortunately, she had been injured and coupled with the enteric fever – nasty stuff, I tell you! – she had been discharged. I certainly will miss her on the front lines, but maybe your two can find some common ground. Think about it, will you? And now I really have to excuse myself. Glory awaits!”_

Daniel had been killed in battle just over a year after. He was the one who introduced Emma and Regina to each other. His death was what truly had brought them together beyond what was then a tentative companionship.

Regina sucked in a shaky breath. Perhaps, he had been right all those decades ago. Perhaps, she herself had been avoiding taking the step she had been, honestly now, dreaming about for a few years. Regina looked on the people in the park. The playing children, adults going on their business, the elderly playing chess. The orange lights of the coming sunset reflecting off of the tall buildings. A strange determination settled in her chest. It had replaced that uncomfortable green feeling that had nestled there before. In that moment she knew what she wanted, what she needed to do.

A smile tugged slightly at the corners of her lips as she gathered her things and walked towards the downtown – heels clicking against the pavement. Her hands whipped the cell phone and fingers were pressing first number on the speed dial blindly. Her eyes were already focused on the goal ahead when she put the phone to her ear and heard the familiar voice answering her call.

“Sydney, please rearrange my schedule for the next , hmm, two years. I will be needing more time put aside for a personal matter. Of course, the meeting with the heads of the supernatural communities later this month will stand. Yes. In the meantime I will be needing a new lab. No, a private one. All the necessary equipment for genetic sequencing. And pull Emma’s… Dr Swan blood samples we have archived. The ones predating the transformation. I will need those as well.“

Regina stopped and glanced over her shoulder at the park. Then a brilliant smile appeared on her lips.

“We have a new project, old friend. I need a child.”

It took a lot. Years of research, many a sleepless night. Yet it was nothing compared to what she had been through already. Sequencing the DNA of her and Emma’s untainted blood to create a match, use that basis to create a stable protocol that would end in a successful pregnancy, even in her changed body – that was a challenge up to her prowess. And this time what awaited Regina at the end of this new road was a success. This impossible problem had a solution. One wondrous solution that would change her life in ways she could not possibly foresee.

Henry Daniel Mills was born on the 4th of August, 2001.

 


	6. Pride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Well, I finally finished this chapter. For some reason, this was the hardest one to get right, but I think I managed. One more left.

_108 Mifflin Street, Storybroke, Main.  
_ _22nd of October, 2011._

The evening breeze was tinged with the breath of coming winter. Just a taste, no more, but it still made people shiver in the briskness of the sunset. Not that this was a rarity for the small coastal town. A little bit of cold in Main? Right, impossible.

The lights of Mifflin Street were lighting up like fireflies. Clean, orderly, upper class. It was an exemplary neighborhood, however small remembering the size of the town itself. A little ways down the street a white manor stood surrounded by meticulously maintained garden and a, disguised as part of the greenery, but still tall and monolithic fence. The manor did not stand out next to the others along the street, yet there was something different about it.

Beyond the black door and the invisible security systems, the inside of the manor was sleek and stylish. Polished wood, whites and blacks. However, that impression could only last while standing in the foyer. Two steps beyond it,crossing the threshold of any room of the two floors would show immediately a different side to the house. It was a home. Signs of a family living here were all over. Framed pictures were covering the walls and stood on many surfaces. Pictures of a mother with her two mouth son in her arms, of a young boy learning to ride a bicycle. Pictures of dinners and holidays, first day of school and visits at work in the stark mayoral office.

In the corners some of the evidence of kid-proofing still lingered in the decor. There was a huge self space below the flat screen in the living room with rows upon rows of DVDs. Everything from old Disney movies to Pride and Prejudice. Under this collection were blinking lights of two gaming consoles with double set of controllers for each. In the garage boxes of toys and camping gear were stored.

Regina braced with her hands outstretched wide on the counter. She looked up to see her faint reflection staring back in the glass of one of the cabinets. Despite having a top of the line dishwasher, she had just washed all the dishes left from dinner. It was somewhat of a nervous tick. She felt calmer in the kitchen, or in a lab. In her office. The structure and order often served to ground her. Not routine or any meaningless task to busy the idle hand, but an atmosphere ruled over by logic and causality. When she could let her mind predict and deduce every little detail without worrying about the people involved, that was her way of relaxing. Physics and chemistry – those were her hobbies. Nothing drastic or big, no truly meaningful projects, just some curious problems to keep her intellect sated. Though, cooking and baking were her favorite as well. Most likely because of the same meticulous process.

Right now Regina needed to level her emotions out. Which wasn’t all that easy considering what she was about to undertake. This day was going to come one way or the other, but she somehow still found herself ill prepared for it. And yet, it had to be done. Today. That had been her promise and Regina was determined to keep it.

Her lips twitched as she followed another thought. _Henry._ He had grown so much, so fast. Shockingly so, really. Perhaps, instead of the benefits her lack of aging had shown its negative side on this occasion. Regina could have sworn it was only yesterday that she had put the cradle next to her mayoral desk and played with a tiny, onesie-clad foot as her eyes scanned R&D proposals and overseas reports. It was sometimes hard to grasp the fact that her little boy was ten years old already.

Well, this was the time. Regina wiped at the already sparkling counter top, deposited the towel next to the sink and took off towards the second floor. Her heels got muffled by the rugs, but then echoed along the parquet of the upstairs corridor. Third door on the right. It still had that drawing board attached to it with words ‘ _Henry's_ _room_ ’ drawn on it. Regina tilted her head to the side a little bit. It was almost calligraphy the way it had been drawn. A private, warm smile played on her lips as she reached for the door handle. Henry aspired to be a writer one day, and not without a reason. The door opened without a creek and soft gleam of the lamp beside the bed was the only source of light inside. Her smile grew at the sight of her son – clad in his pajamas and already in bed, but with a book in hand. He looked up from the pages giving her a grin and reflectively sitting up straighter.

“Hey, Mom, what’s up?”

Regina let out a noncommittal hum, sat down at the edge of his bed and looked at him. This could go in two different ways, and truthfully, she could not gauge which one was more likely than the other.

“Have you brushed your teeth, young man?” she asked instead of the prepared opening line.

Henry rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I did.”

They chuckled together, both clear on how much this gesture was nurtured in him by his own mother. Regina bit her lip, took a full breath and caught his eye.

“Henry, dear, I–” This was harder than her best guess. It wasn’t the topic that made it so, but not knowing what his reaction would be. “I have decided you are old enough to know now.”

Henry closed his book and pushed it aside to lay over the covers. “What about? I know all there is to know about, you know, stuff.” He shrugged, but after Regina kept searching his face he grinned and went on as if trying to make his point clearer. “I know about Storybrooke, like what this town really is. I know about the people here. I know why we have to live like this and why Sydney has to keep an eye on everybody. I mean, it’s actually really cool to be living in a sanctuary. I get to be friends with werewolves and mermaids and ride an unicorn. Who else gets to do that?”

He paused suddenly apprehensive and looked at her with a question. “Mom! Is it about who you are again? I get it. I know you’re like immortal or almost. And that’s cool. And I know you have to do some,” he swallowed and a shadow of unpleasant memory clouded his face, “not very nice things to like keep everyone safe, but that’s cool too. I’m fine with it, I get it. Really.”

Regina smiled, she could feel her eyes getting a bit watery. That was never the plan. Henry was supposed to have as normal a life as any sanctuary resident. Learning to live in both worlds at once. Accepting the supernatural people along with the normal kind. Be free of the prejudice persisting outside of her sphere of control. He was supposed to know her as his mother and a mayor, not find out about the network and her role as its head. He wasn’t supposed to be able to figure out so much about her past on his own. But she herself had encouraged his curiously, she was so proud of how much of his other mother was in him. Tricking Sydney was not a very nice thing to do, but it let him on the trail. And that had lead to the truth, or at least some of it. All she wanted was to protect him and it almost ended up costing her Henry’s love and trust. The lies had put a rift between them and it was not easy to mend it. Yet they had pulled through to the other side, their bond being made stronger for it.

“No, Henry, it’s not about that. I thought it’s time you heard about…”

The words died on her lips, like they had been dying every time she wanted to speak the name out loud for the last twenty years. But then again, her son was showing signs of becoming quite the detective himself. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. It would have been comical if the subject wasn’t so close to Regina’s heart.

Staring in disbelief at her Henry whispered, “Emma. You wanna tell me about Emma.”

Regina nodded. Her hand came up to caress his cheek. “Yes, dear, I want to tell you about your other mother. The truth, but not the whole truth. More than what you have gleaned from the databases. However,” she paused making sure he understood what she was saying, “I will not let you in on the details you are too young to know. Honestly, I would rather like for you to never find out about any of those.”

Her son gulped and closed his mouth making his teeth clank. For a long minute he simply studied her face, looking for lies, or maybe looking for something else. Regina knew he had managed to find out a few key facts. But the files were too cynical, too dry to relate everything that had happened. All they did was to connect the image of Emma Swan – the way Henry knew her – to the scary stories of ancient Victorian England. But that picture of a woman he knew through his mother, that brave and smart, beautiful and loving Emma, the one that was his mother’s partner, a hero and savior – how could that image be tarnished or even combined with something vague and so old? Plus those stores were just the right amount of unclear to become a cool fairytale in the child’s mind. One mention could not possibly erase the years Regina spend making sure Henry knew about his other mother. About who she was and what she meant for Regina. He knew that she had fallen ill before he had been born. Too ill for medicine of any kind to save her. So his Mom had put Emma to sleep, somewhere safe to wait until, perhaps, one day the cure could be found.

The real story was far more complicated, and way less romantic.

Finally, he nodded accepting her conditions and whispered, “Okay.”

She licked her lips, steadied her breath and reached out for his hand on instinct. The gesture had been reciprocated and with the smaller palm squeezing on her fingers Regina began: “We first met in 1864. I can still remember that day. It was unusually hot. For London in any case. Daniel had introduced us. He was attempting to brighten my life, make me more sociable, I suppose. In the end, he did succeeded beyond either of our wildest dreams. I remember at first we didn’t see eye to eye on many things…”

She went on and on. For hours. Even forgetting about that it was Henry’s bedtime. Regina managed to cover a little fraction of their history before she caught herself. Promising to continue tomorrow she made Henry promise to go to sleep, too. It had become a routine. Every evening for weeks afterward she would come into his room in the evening and he would be waiting to hear the continuation of the story. Regina let him in on it all without twisting or changing the truth; yes, she did omit a lot of particulars a child should not ever know about, but in everything else she was truthful. Truthful about her feelings, truthful about what learning about Hyde did to them. She spoke about the first chase. About the obsession Hyde showed in her quest for the perfected serum. She told him what both of them thought years before that, that time Emma had came up with the idea of the serum. It was meant to help people. Cure diseases, make bodies stronger, more resilient. Eliminate loss and death entirely. And as it turned out in that she had succeeded.

Regina told her son of the years spent chasing Hyde, catching her. About the decades searching for a cure. About how hard it was to admit she had failed. About the hollow years after. All about how her mission, her obsession with curing Emma had grown into something bigger, something more. The network that once only served as a means to an end evolved into a support structure. A force upon the Earth, one that could do a lot of good or a lot of ill, depending in who had control of it. Her organization became as much a responsibility as an enabler. And thus, armed with the unique perspective born from watching history unfold before her eyes, Regina had took upon herself to change the world.

Not for all, and certainly not for the ones in power. Hyde’s resentment of the homo sapiens was overzealous, yet she had a point. Human species had taken over the planet pushing not only any other life form out, but also their own minorities, the weaker, the fewer in numbers, the less advanced technologically. Regina took control over the underbelly of the normality. All the wondrous and terrible legends, the on-goings that were not but a mystery for the ordinary people. She build a safety net for them, an invisible fortress that akin to the tree elephants of ancient tale could topple the world.

And then… Then she told Henry about him. How much of a challenge it was to make her dream come true, to make it possible for him to be born to this world. It would be expecting too much if him to understand complex genetics, but she wanted him to know. To understand that Emma was his mother. Even though Regina had carried Henry, raised him, Emma, _her_ Emma was that other half needed for this to have happened. With moisture in her eyes Regina remembered the conversation they had. Long before the serum had corrupted her, Emma used to dream, puzzle herself with hypothetical scenarios. One of those times she had almost jokingly revealed that in a world where they could be married, where there was less danger resulting from their work, then if they could and decided to have children, she knew their names. A girl name would be Anne and the boy… The boy's name would be Henry, after Regina’s father.

All that happened afterward had already been preserved in the pictures littering the mansion's walls and surfaces, carefully documented and gathered in photo albums. The moment the pregnancy took, all the long nine months and the birth. All ten years, in meticulous details. First smile, first words, first steps, first day of school. The first time Henry met and ridden a pony. The first time he called Sydney’s holographic projection _‘nana’_. His first meeting a werewolf and the lizardmen and the complete lack of fear the child had shown. Regina reading him his first book out loud, and their first Christmas together. All the birthdays and camping trips. The sick days and lonely ones, the moments of joy and moments of sadness. Regina had documented them all. As if she had been, however consciously or subconsciously it may have been, but she was trying to have something tangible. Something to show _her_. Emma. If she were to ever wake up again.

It wasn’t easy to work through it all. Neither to share nor to take in. Both mother and son had moments when they had to take a break. They cried, they just sat together in silence. But most of all they grew closer together.

And Regina told herself that this was enough.

The way Henry looked at her now, as he sat there at the kitchen table flipping through the comic book and glancing up at her with a grin, the deeper understanding in his eyes, an almost adult comprehension was overshadowed by the warmth and undeniable love she could see there, in the light brown eyes he got from her side of the family.

That was when _it_ happened. At breakfast, in their bright and welcoming kitchen. In-between pancakes and orange juice, eggs and hot tee.

Having devoured most of his breakfast Henry looked down at his comic book, his head tilting in apprehension.

“You know, I just thought of something. Mom, she–” he bristled, eyebrows knotting together. “I mean Emma. She's kinda like Two-Face.”

Regina looked up from her food, her mouth moving on autopilot. Honestly, she had not much interest in following all the superhero multiverse Henry was such a big fan of. Sure, she loved reading comics with him when he was a bit younger, making voices and sounding out the noise bubbles, but beyond knowing about some of his favorite heroes she was not invested. Her real world was filled with far marvelous things than the stories ever could. Ignoring his mother's blank look Henry nodded to himself and went on.

“Like, Harvey was a good guy. Being DA and all that. He was a good person. Then he got that acid stuff sprayed over his face. And he got all of those scars and it changed him. But the thing is, I don’t think it was the acid or the scars. It was more about what _happened_ to him afterward. Like, he could not go back to his old life. And people were pitying him and began being scared of him. And it was like he lost himself. So that whole flip of the coin thing was like, what’s the world… Coping mechanism or whatever it’s called.”

Henry studied the comic book with that curious expression with his lips pursed to the side. He slowly murmured more to himself than Regina, “Maybe he didn’t have to become a villain.” Then he closed the book, gulped down the rest of his juice and jumped up.

He picked up his back up from where it was on the floor leaning against the door-frame, hollered “Sydney will walk me to school. Bye Mom! I promise not to trick him again!” And then he was gone behind the sound of the front door shutting.

Regina kept staring blankly at the wall opposite. She had not moved a muscle aside from her jaws still working and her throat swallowing the food. It was like something had finally clicked. This angle had never occurred to her before.

“ _And he got all of those scars and it changed him.”_

“ _Like, he could not go back to his old life.”_

“ _And it was like he lost himself.”_

“ _Maybe he didn’t have to become a villain.”_

“ _Coping mechanism.”_

_A psychological element._

_Not just a chemical and biological reactions._

_It could not be this easy? Could it?_

_Both brought from the outside and self-inflicted._

_A trick of their own conscious mind. A… DID?_

Her eyes went wide and she dropped the fork that had still been in her hand. The utensil clattered to the floor, but Regina hardly noticed. How could she had overlooked this possibility? All these years of research and fruitless attempts at battling the serum’s effects like a virus. Not once she had entertained the idea that there could have been more of a reason behind how it affected Emma. She was supposed to be the greatest detective that ever lived! And she let such an obvious clue slip through her fingers! Regina was so focused on ways to reverse the process, and then so crushed by her failure to achieve that, she had not considered that there could have been another way. And it was there, staring at her from the start.

She suddenly knew what to do. She could turn it all around, Regina could get it all back. Not like it once was, but maybe, possibly, better than what her hopeless mind had been feeding her for years. She knew what needed to had happened all along.

All she had to do was stop trying to save _Emma_.

 

 


End file.
